


I Don't Date Vampires

by J_L_Hynde



Category: Vampire Knight
Genre: Boarding School, Character Deaths, F/M, High School, Humor, Original Characters - Freeform, Slow Burn, Supernatural - Freeform, coming of age story, multi-chapter fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-23
Updated: 2016-03-21
Packaged: 2018-05-22 20:23:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 81,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6092968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/J_L_Hynde/pseuds/J_L_Hynde
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Katherine Taylor was a very rational person. She didn't believe in the supernatural, at least not until she came to Cross Academy and met a certain blond-haired blue-eyed vampire. Hanabusa Aidou didn't like humans. They were below him; something to be pitied not admired. Imagine his surprise when his best friend became a human girl. An unlikely friendship of two unlikely people.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Living Out of a Suitcase

**I Don't Date Vampires**  
Prologue  
_**"Living Out of a Suitcase"** _

* * *

Cross Academy was one of the most prestigious boarding schools in Japan. Everyone wanted to attend, be part of the school. It was rumored that thousands of applicants were turned down each year and getting accepted to such a place was a once in a lifetime chance. Anyone would be crazy to turn that chance down. However the girl standing in front of the imposing gates didn't feel any excitement coming to a place like this. Her olive green eyes studying her surroundings with disinterest as she pulled two large black suitcases behind her and a violin slung over her shoulder.

Katherine Taylor had been surprised when her uncle had come into their hotel suite announcing that she would be going to a Japanese boarding school for seven months while he was away on one of his writing assignments. She never would have imagined going to a boarding school like this in her life.

* * *

Katherine was lying on a queen size bed reading a biography on the Romanovs when she heard the door slam. Her golden brown waves spiraling around her head like a halo. "Lucian," she called in acknowledgement. Her uncle came to the door of the room that was acting as her temporary bedroom.

"Kit," He said leaning on the door frame. His mouth formed a hard line and his hazel eyes were narrowed. It was the expression he tended to have when he had to give the girl bad news. It was the same face he had when he told her that her parents were missing. The same face that he had had when Katherine had lowered two empty caskets into the ground because they never did find their bodies. So when Katherine saw that face she immediately sat up. "I have something I need to discuss with you," he told her cryptically before stepping out into the main living area of the suite.

Katherine hopped off the bed and followed him without question. He plopped down in one of the arm chairs and she did the same. "Okay so before I say anything I need you to promise me something." Lucian said seriously, "Promise that you will let me finish completely before you respond. Okay?"

Katherine nodded, "Okay I promise. Just tell me why you came in here like someone just died."

Lucian let out a long sigh. "I got another writing job. I have to go to Iraq and do a piece on the American soldiers there. Of course for obvious reason you can't come with me this time, so I've arranged for you to attend a boarding school in Japan -Cross Academy," he explained calmly. Katherine was about to respond but he gave her a look clearly saying that he wasn't finished. "It's a very prestigious school and it would be good for you to be around people your own age. You'll be leaving tomorrow night so get packed." Katherine processed this information rationally. She wanted to protest, but as a freelance Journalist her uncle tended to take what was given to him.

"How long will you be gone?" She inquired.

"Seven months. I know that sounds like a long time, but I'll be back to pick you up by the end of the school year."

She shrugged, "You gotta do what you gotta do. Just don't get yourself killed in the process." Lucian smiled. He knew she wouldn't take this the wrong way. Katherine has always been a very rational person since she was a little girl, thinking things through before she formed a reaction. "I guess I should get packing now. I'll admit I'm going to be a little disappointed to be leaving London," she glanced out the window of the sky rise hotel as if taking in the view on last time trying to burn it into her memory.

"Well I'm sure we will both come back at some point," Lucian laughed. Katherine smiled and nodded. She had spent the rest of the day packing up her measly belongings into her suitcases and Lucian had taken her sightseeing one last time prior to driving her to the airport. Where she had given her uncle a big hug and then boarded the plane.

* * *

So that was the story of how she came to be here struggling to pull two suitcases up the stairs because these dorms apparently were too fancy to have elevators. She had decided to take one suitcase at a time up the stairs figuring that would be easiest. She had gotten the first suitcase to her floor and was working on the second one when she heard someone call to her. "Oh, here let me help you with that," a girl came running down the steps. She had short brown hair and brown eyes and was wearing a black uniform with a white arm band. The girl grabbed one of the handles taking some of the weight from Katherine's hands.

When the suitcase was placed down at the top of the stairs both girls were slightly out of breath, "Wow that was heavy," the brunette commented. "My name is Yuuki by the way," she told Katherine.

"Arigatou Yuuki-san. Oname wa Katherine desu," she replied in perfect Japanese.

"What's in there anyways?" She asked staring at the suitcase as if she had some sort of X-ray vision so she could see the contents it contained.

"Books, pictures, music," she told her. Yuuki nodded signifying that she heard her.

"I take it you're a transfer student. We don't get many of those around here, especially not in the middle of the school year like this. But I'm sure you'll fit in just fine here. Where are you from anyways you have in accent?" Yuuki rambled as Katherine regarded which way she should go to find her room.

"I could say the same thing about you," Katherine pointed out causing Yuuki to laugh, "I'm from the states though. Umm. Do you happen to know where room 136 is?"

"136? Why that's right across the hall from my room. Come on I'll show you," Yuuki said joyously gesturing for her to follow. She took one of the girl's suitcases and led her through the corridors. They stopped at one of the rooms where Yuuki pointed, "That's my room that I share with my roommate Yori-chan. She's in class right now, but I'll be sure to bring her by to meet you. Feel free to stop by anytime in case you need anything."

"Okay. Arigatou Yuuki," Katherine replied.

"I have to get back to class, but I'll stop by later, Okay. Maybe give you a tour of the place before curfew," she added with a smile. Then running down the hall the way they came to get back to her classes.

' _Well she's nice,'_ Katherine thought taking out the key and unlocking the thick wooden door. Since she was transferring in the middle of the year the only rooms available were singles, which she kind of lucked out on. The girl had never been a fan of sharing her living space with someone she didn't know, it was often a problem for her when Lucian and her had to stay in Hostels together sleeping around a bunch of strangers. When that happened she generally didn't sleep well.

This room was quaint there was a single bed in the corner and two windows instead of the typical single window because she was on a corner. There was a desk for homework a large cork bulletin board hung on one of the walls under it a series of shelves. The walls were white and everything looked fairly plain, but it was going to be her home for the time being. Katherine rolled in her two suitcases and shut the door there was already a fluffy white down duvet and pillow on the bed with sheets. So she didn't need to get those, but she would still probably need to go shopping anyways and pick up a few things.

She set down her violin on the bed and went about unpacking her clothes. Over time she had learned to live with only the bare necessities. It makes sense when one is constantly traveling and Katherine Taylor did literally live out of a suitcase.

She had really only five of everything; five tank tops, five tee-shirts, five pairs of pants, five pairs of shorts, five sweaters, and five long-sleeved shirts. The only things she didn't have five pairs of were socks, underwear, bras, leggings, shoes, coats, swimsuits, and dresses. She took out her shirts first placing them in the second drawer from the top in the supplied dresser and then emptied the rest of her suitcase. She placed the only two dresses that she owned on hangers one a simple white sundress and the other a long-sleeved sweater dress in black.

Inside the closet with the dresses she placed her five pairs of shoes, not including the ones she was currently wearing (knee-high brown uggs) on the floor of the closet, (a pair of black ballet flats, white sandals, black leather ankle combat boots, and a pair of black high-top converse.) On the hangers she hung her long black trench coat and her black leather bomber jacket. She made a mental note to stop by the headmaster's office later and pick up her school uniform.

After unpacking her clothes the rest was quite easy to get organized. She placed the various CD's and books on the shelves and pinned several pictures of her and Lucian's travels on the bulletin board. The board was completely covered by the time she was done.

Looking around the room didn't look so plain anymore; it actually looked like someone lived there. The pictures, music, and books along with a colorful patched rug that Katherine had picked up in India added personality to the room. Of course it still looked a little plain, but there wasn't much she could do about that at the moment. Katherine looked at the digital clock by the bed telling her it was about 4:30 p.m. in whatever time zone she was in.

The jetlag was really starting to affect her and she let out a yawn. "Okay, I guess I'll skype Lucian," she told herself sitting down at the desk. It took a couple minutes for the computer to turn on, and a couple more minutes for her uncle to answer.

"Kit."

"Hey Lucian," she gave a little wave as her uncle appeared on the screen. "How is Iraq?" she inquired curiously. He looked like he was sitting in a bunker of some sort, probably the barracks. His black hair messed up slightly perhaps having just woken up from sleeping.

"Honestly it's kind of boring. There's nothing around here for miles, it's a fucking desert," he informed her jadedly. Katherine smiled. "How is Japan? More interesting than here I hope."

Katherine yawned again. "It's fine," she stated tiredly, "I had a little trouble getting my stuff up the stairs. This place is apparently above elevators. But one of the students helped me. She offered to give me a tour later and I just finished unpacking all my stuff."

"Oh. Show me your room," Lucian more or less ordered. Katherine picked up the laptop and walked him around the room sort of speak. She showed him the bed, desk, shelves, and the view out the windows. "It's nice. You should be comfortable there. Are you going to join orchestra?" He questioned after she set him back on the desk.

"I don't know. It's probably all full considering that I came here at such a weird time. I think I'm just going to get my bearings first before I make any of those decisions," she told him. He nodded accepting her answer.

"That sounds like a good plan. Very practical like always."

Katherine frowned, "You make me sound like a dull old geezer."

Lucian laughed; his eyes crinkling around the edges. "I didn't mean to imply that Kit. I, of all people, know you're not dull. Remember the time you broke your hand or when you ate that scorpion. Nope definitely not dull," he said seriously as he could through his laughter.

"If I remember correctly I only ate that scorpion because I lost a bet with you. And me breaking my hand was kinda also your fault," Katherine pointed out.

"It's my fault that you couldn't hold your liquor?" He asked innocently.

Katherine huffed about to shoot back a retort in her colorful vocabulary when she there was a knock at her door. "Hold on a minute," she told her uncle standing; walking across the room opening the door. She opened the door to see Yuuki standing there smiling.

"Hi, sorry am I interrupting anything?" She asked.

Katherine shook her head, "No I was just skyping with my uncle. You can come in," she offered opening the door wider letting Yuuki pass.

Katherine walked back to her laptop, where Lucian was patiently waiting. "Sorry Luke," she said using the nickname she used to call him as a child, "I got to go. Stay away from those landmines."

Lucian chuckled, "Okay, Kit. Don't get into too much trouble without me."

"I make no promises," she retorted before hanging up. She closed her laptop screen before turning to Yuuki who was looking around her room.

"Wow you sure didn't waste any time. Is this all your stuff or is you uncle sending more?"

Katherine shook her head, "Nope this is it. I was planning on getting some things before I started school tomorrow, notebooks, pencils, the works. But other than that this is about it."

Yuuki looked at her curiously, "You're going to classes tomorrow. Don't you want to take a couple days to get used to the time zone?"

"Nah. I'm used to it. You ready to go?" She brushed off Yuuki's concerns with a wave of her hand.

"Sure." Yuuki wasn't exactly sure what to make of this new transfer student. She wasn't anything like the other female Day-class students on campus. The students who were obsessed with the night class which seemed to be everyone here except her, Zero, and Yori. _'Perhaps it was a cultural thing?'_ Yuuki mused _._

Katherine listened intently when Yuuki was giving the tour, not want to get lost later when trying to find her classes. The place was much bigger than she originally thought. The gothic style buildings were everywhere; towering over her staring everything down with a disapproving look. It was pretty intimidating actually.

"What's that over there?" Katherine asked pointed to one the buildings. Unlike the other building they had seen this one was surrounded by a tall stone wall and there was a large iron gate with a moon symbol in the middle of a rose. It seemed to be more menacing than the other buildings like it gave off a warning not to go over there.

Yuuki looked to where she was pointing. "Oh that the Night class dormitory," she said with reluctance. She knew that the other girl was probably only being nice until she got what she wanted. ' _God. When did I become so negative? It must be Zero. His attitude has to be contagious.'_ Yuuki criticized herself. However the next words out of Katherine's mouth proved Yuuki wrong.

"What's the Night Class?"

Yuuki looked at her shocked. "You don't know? Everyone that applies here knows. How can you not know?" She blabbered puzzled.

Katherine sighed. "Okay one, I still have no idea what you're talking about. Two, I wasn't aware I even applied to this school," she started calmly holding up her fingers as she talked, "and three, why are you making such a big deal over this?"

"I'm sorry," she apologized, "It just I was surprised that's all. The students here are so obsessed with the night class and all the new students know exactly who they are." She gave Katherine a quizzical look having just realized something, "How were you not aware that you applied to this school?"

The other girl shrugged. "My uncle sent in the application without me knowing; snuck me the entrance exam somehow. That's most definitely how it must've happened. He's a pretty sly bastard when he wants to be. Anyways the night class," Katherine explained before bringing the conversation back to her original question.

Yuuki shook herself from her thoughts. "Oh. Okay right, so Cross academy is divided between the Night Class and the Day Class. As the names suggest one group uses the campus during the day and the other at night," she informed.

"What's so special about them? Why would everyone know who they are?"

"Well I guess you could say that the night class is kind of like," Yuuki paused thinking of an analogy Katherine could relate to, "Hollywood actors."

"Oh, that makes sense."

Yuuki nodded looking down at her watch. "Oh, I have to go find Zero. Katherine it was nice to meet you. Umm... I guess I'll see you tomorrow," she told her hurriedly before running off. This effectively left Katherine standing all alone. She scanned around her trying to remember where to go.

She began to retrace her steps to find the administrative building where the headmaster's office was located. Once she found it we wandered the hallways not seeing any signs telling her where to go. ' _This is peculiar. Why are there no signs? Do they want people to get lost?_ '

She finally saw a light casting a dim glow on the floor of the hallway. Katherine crept forward slowly peering through the door. There was a man sitting quietly at a desk reading over some papers. He had long light blonde color hair that he tied back into a low ponytail. The light from the desk lamp casted a glare off his thin wire rimmed glasses.

Katherine raised her hand and gave two quick raps on the door. He looked up from his work, "Come in." She pushed the door open wider stepping into the room. He looked at her curiously setting down his pencil, "Yes?"

"My name's Katherine Taylor I'm looking for the Headmaster. I'm a transfer student," she told him.

The man studied her for a second before standing and walking over to a filing cabinet. The drawer opened with a click as he pulled out a file. "Yes, Miss Taylor," she watched as his eyes scanned over what was written. "Have a seat," he offered sitting back down at his desk plopping the file down.

Katherine took in the room as she sat in one of the fluffy brown leather chairs. The sun was just setting and the light was casting a warm glow on the room through the west facing windows. The furniture was a collection of antiques in beautiful carved mahogany. "It's a pleasure to meet you," he started his eyes flickering back down to her file; "I must say that I'm very impressed by your entrance exam. One of the highest scores I've seen."

"Arigatou gozaimasu ," Katherine responded politely. It became apparent that his man was the headmaster. He gave her a kind smile before continuing.

"It says here you were home tutored and self-taught," she nodded, "You are under the care of your Godfather who is a freelance journalist. I would imagine you haven't really been to an actual school before."

"Just once when I was six."

He nodded. Katherine thought it looked pretty comical, like a bobble head on one of those figurines that one would put on their dashboard. "This," he said, "placing a sheet of paper in front of her, "is your class schedule. Here is a map of the school; this should help you find your classes tomorrow."

"If you still have trouble you can ask my daughter Yuuki. She is in the same year as you. Oh you'll like her she's about the best daughter a father could ask for," the told her gushing, "She's about this tall," he describes placing his hand about where her height would be, "and has brown hair and the pretties brown eyes. She has chubby cheeks too, but not as chubby as when she was little."

"Oh she was so precious when she was little. One time she tried to make spaghetti and meatballs, but she over cooked the noodles and burnt the sauce. The meatballs exploded permanently staining the ceiling—"

Katherine watched a little confused, ' _What the hell? Okay so it's nice that he loves his daughter, but this is definitely weird. He's telling a complete stranger embarrassing stories from her childhood.'_ "Umm… Excuse me," she said pulling the headmaster out of whatever story he was recalling, "aren't we getting a little off subject?"

The headmaster stopped and closed his mouth, "You're quite right I did get a little sidetracked there." He walked to a closet and pulled out something. The door was open blocking Katherine's view. When he closed the door she saw he was carrying a large white bag. "Here is your school uniform," he gave her the bag and she peered into it seeing a couple with shirts, black skirts, a black jacket, and long black socks.

"Arigatou. Umm… I was wondering if it would be okay to pick up a few things from town. I kind of came here on short notice and didn't have time before," Katherine requested. The headmaster regarded her peering over his glasses.

"I guess that would be acceptable, you can leave campus tomorrow after classes are over."

"Arigatou," she said bowing. Katherine took to the class schedule and map from the desk and slipped them into the bag. She closed the door behind her making her way back to her dorm. By this time the sun had long since set and Katherine was quite tired.

The cool January air nipped at her nose and she snuggled into her warm winter coat sniffling at bit. She walked pass the moon dorm one last time studying it. It was even more intimidating at night and she couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her.

Katherine glanced around her into the woods, ' _I could've sworn I saw something move over there.'_ She was staring at a tree; it seemed that a figure disappeared behind just a split second ago. She stared for a second longer before turning abruptly and heading back to her room.

"Hanabusa, what are you doing?" Kain asked his cousin. The blonde vampire was leaning against a tree watching as a girl walked past the night dorms. She had golden brown hair and a fair complexion. He didn't seem to hear his cousin's approach.

"Hanabusa."

Aidou looked up, "Huh?"

"You were supposed to be back to class twenty minutes ago. Kuran told me to go find you," Kain reprimanded his cousin.

Aidou sighed pulling away from the tree, "Yeah Okay. I'm coming." Kain sighed before walking back to the classroom with Aidou on his tail. His cousin could be quite immature sometimes, well almost all the time. He hoped that whatever Aidou was planning, if he was planning something, didn't drag him down too.


	2. I Was Distracted by Your Face

**I Don't Date Vampires**  
Chapter 1  
 _"I Was Distracted by Your Face"_

* * *

Zero Kiriyuu was bored out of his mind. He sat at one of the wooden desks his cheek resting in his palm his eyes staring at those around him. To anyone else it looked like a look of distain or a death glare, but it wasn't he was just bored.

"Hey I heard there was a new transfer student coming today," someone said.

"Really?"

"Yeah I heard she's a foreigner," a girl commented.

Zero rolled his eyes tuning out the typical gossip of the other students. His gaze focused on Yuuki sitting in front of him. She had her back turned to him and was furiously writing trying to finish her homework before the teacher showed up. Yori was sitting next to her quite as always reading a book.

"Hey Yuuki you met this transfer student right?" Yori asked. Her amber eyes not leaving the page.

"Yeah," Yuuki answered continuing to scribble messily onto the paper, her shoulder length hair sliding forward and revealing her neck. Zero stared at her neck before shaking his head hoping to dispel any and all thoughts about the blood flowing through her arteries. ' _I cannot be thinking about this right now. No! Stop it,"_ he argued with himself fighting an internal battle.

"What's she like?"

Yuuki paused in her writing thinking; the tip of the eraser of her mechanical pencil just brushing her bottom lip. "She's nice. She's a little different, but I'm guessing that just a cultural thing," she concluded, "I don't really know that much about her actually."

Yori nodded returning to her book. "I wonder where she is," she muttered absent mindedly to no one in particular.

* * *

' _I can't believe I'm late. Stupid jetlag. Stupid time change. Stupid me for not even setting my alarm clock. What the hell is wrong with me?'_ Katherine was running down the halls trying to find the classroom, mentally bashing herself for being such an idiot. She was late, simple as that. ' _Damn it all,"_ she screamed internally cursing everything and everyone around her.

She rounded the corner seeing the door to the classroom as she slowed to a stop. Out of breath, her heart beating rapidly she tried composing herself waiting for her breath to even out. "Oh I hate running," she huffed bending over clutching her side where a pain was starting to form. She inhaled deeply holding her breath for a few seconds before standing up. Her elbow-length golden brown hair was in disarray and she quickly pulled it back into a ponytail.

When Katherine entered the classroom there were several pair of eyes staring at her. She had gotten there just before class started, but everyone was already there. The teacher was a thin tall man in his late thirties and he, like the rest of the class, was staring at her in question.

"Ohiyou Gozaimasu," Katherine bowed politely. The teacher looked at her curiously for a second not knowing who she was. Then it clicked in his mind. He remembers the Headmaster telling him about a new student this apparently was her.

"Class this is our new transfer student Katherine Taylor," he said matter-of-factly. Katherine fought the urge to cringe as everyone stared at her making her feel incredibly self-conscious. From an outside perspective however, she was relaxed and confident, there wasn't a hint of nervousness at all in her demeanor. Inside though was a different story. Katherine was fighting a minor panic attack at the moment. She didn't necessarily enjoy being on display, though she didn't cower away from being the center of attention, this was a bit much for her.

"Miss Taylor do you have anything you want to say?"

Katherine shook her head, "No, not really."

"Okay, well take a seat next to Kiriyuu," he told her pointing to Zero. It was the only open space left. In fact only Zero was sitting at a desk that would typically sit six people. Katherine figured it was the intimidating air he gave off that made people not want to sit there, ' _like the_ _night class dormitory.'_ She wasn't sure why she compared the two like that, but it seemed to fit.

Zero glanced at Katherine as she sat down placing enough room between them to allow him to breathe but not so much that it would seem rude. She slipped a colorful knit backpack from her shoulder placing it next to her on the bench and took out a notebook and a mechanical pencil. He studied her for second taking in the golden hair and olive eyes as she stared ahead listening intently.

Katherine turned her head and regarded her seatmate. He was staring at her, "Something wrong?" She whispered. Zero blinked and shook his head before facing forward. She faced forward again actively taking notes.

Zero and Katherine didn't talk at all during class, mostly because Zero fell asleep about 15 minutes in as did Yuuki. Also Katherine was particularly interested in the lecture; Shakespeare was one of her favorite playwrights. The language and way he could make a person feel with just dialogue was impressive. Though she wasn't typically fond of Romeo and Juliet and didn't see it as a love story, like most did, she did still like to read it every once in a while on a whim.

"Remember that the test on Shakespeare is Friday and don't be fooled by my kind face and charming personality this test will be hard. Those of you who are just studying now I'll be able to tell," the teacher told the student concluding the class. Katherine stretched her arms above her head before sliding her notebook in her bag; it was the one empty notebook she was able to find in her stuff that morning.

"Hi," said two girls that had come up to where Katherine was sitting. One girl had strawberry-blonde hair and the other a dark brown almost black. They were both smiling at Katherine, ' _probably heads of the school gossip_ ,' she thought.

Katherine looked at them wearily, "Hello."

The blonde's smile grew wider, "I'm Natsume Abe and this is Hiyoki Kimura," she introduced herself and the other girl.

"Katherine, but you probably knew that already," she replied then looked at the brunette, "Baby chick?"

The brunette laughed, "Everyone always says that."

"So what's your next class Katherine?" Natsume asked turning the attention back to her.

Katherine looked down at her schedule, "World History," she read.

"That's my next class too," Hiyoki said enthusiastically, "I can show you the way if you'd like."

"That'd be great actually, "she responded standing up stretching her legs. She slung her bag over her shoulder and looked at Zero who was still fast asleep, "Hold on a sec," she told the girls walking over to the sleeping boy. His silver hair was mused slighting and covered his face. Zero's eyes were closed seeing as he was asleep, but Katherine new that opened they would be a pale liquid gray matching his hair.

"Umm… I wouldn't do that if I were you," Natsume warned fear seeping into her voice. Katherine looked back at her and disregarded her comment with a shrug. She placed her hand on Zero's shoulder and calmly shook him back and forth. The boy groaned but he didn't wake up, ' _Stubborn huh?'_

Katherine had a moment of sudden inspiration and grabbed his textbook. The two girls watched in horror as she slammed it down on the desk with a loud smack. ' _Oh she's going to die! Zero's definitely going to kill her,'_ they both screamed internally, jumping at the sound of the book hitting the wood. They trembled slightly as Zero slowly sat up glaring at the person who dared to wake him. If only looks could kill Natsume and Hiyoki both knew that Katherine would be turned to ashes in an instant.

Zero stared at the girl standing above him, 'W _hat was her name Kristen, Katie?_ ' She was staring him down with her doe-like olive green eyes the corners of her mouth quirking up into a half smile half smirk. "Class is over," she informed him simply, gesturing to the room around them. He glanced around seeing that she was right, in fact most of the students had already exited the classroom.

"Katherine," hissed Hiyoki trying to get the other girl away from the bad-tempered perfect. Natsume's brown eyes were darting to her and the door trying to convey solely with her pupils and irises that they needed to leave now, preferably before Zero ripped her head off, however Katherine just smiled pleasantly at them then refocused back on the silver haired boy.

"It was nice meeting you. Tell Yuuki I said hi," she told him then slipping away to join the two girls who were waiting for her. Zero watched her as she walked down the steps to the classroom door. His eyes scanned the classroom again and notice Yuuki drooling on her textbook.

"Osihii deus. Omarisu ga daisuki desu," Yuuki mumbled talking in her sleep. Zero stood over her and almost smiled when she let out a small snore. ' _Even when dreaming she's still thinking of food,'_ he noted brushing a strand of her hair from her face. Zero pulled his hand back.

"Oy. Wake up," he nudged Yuuki in the ribs. She rolled over her face mashing into the desk. Yuuki was ten times more stubborn than he was. He pushed, probed, and nudged even flicking her ear a couple of times, but she was resilient. Zero sighed before resorting to the same method that Katherine had used to wake him up.

**_SLAM!_ **

* * *

The teacher looked up startled at the loud noise that emanated from the back of the classroom. He noted that Zero had just scared Yuuki awake and she was now yelling at him for being a jerk. Katherine was just making her way down the stairs when he noticed her, "Miss Taylor." The girl in question turned around and made her way back to the teacher when he motioned for her.

"Yes Sensei?"

"Here is everything you've missed," he said handing her a binder full of papers, "This is all the information that will be on the Shakespeare test, but since you're new you can take a makeup on Monday. It's more of an overview you might want to get one of the students more personal notes, they tend to more detailed."

Katherine weighed the binder in her hands; guessing it could weigh as much as a small dog. "More detailed than this?" She was incredulous studying the binder.

The teacher sighed, "I know it seems daunting."

She shook her head, "No it's okay. It's just so heavy; I feel like I could beat someone to death with it." The teacher didn't smile at her attempt at humor.

Katherine thanked him for the notes as she made her way back to where Hiyoki was waiting for her. Shouldering the binder under her arm, Katherine strolled out of the room with the girl. "Do you want to borrow my notes?" Hiyoki offered as they ambled down the corridor.

"Oh that'd be great," Katherine thanked her.

"It's no trouble. I have them back in my room, but we can go get them after classes let out if you want. I can even help you study too, if you want it," she stated as if it was just a drifting thought.

"Oh I have to go get some things after classes end. I'll probably be gone for about two hours, but you can stop by my room and drop them off with Yuuki or Yori even," Katherine explained.

"Yori and Yuuki?"

Katherine nodded, "Yeah they're in the room across from mine. I can just stop by when I get back and pick it up."

"Gomien."

Katherine gaped confused, "What are you apologizing for?"

"Your room is across from Yuuki. As in Yuuki Kurosu, the headmaster's daughter," she clarified calmly.

"I know who she is."

"Of course you do, everyone does. It just… well Yuuki isn't a bad person, but—" Hiyoki tried explaining the hostility that most people had toward Yuuki Kurosu. She wasn't really doing a good job though, yet Katherine still figured out what she meant.

"The night class."

The other girl nodded solemnly. Katherine glanced at her, but didn't really feel like pressing the matter of the night class. She was sure that sooner or later she was going to find out why everyone was so obsessed with them. ' _They do sound like a bunch of stuck up bastards though,'_ she concluded internally. Katherine though would be lying if she said she wasn't the least bit curious about them; she was, but she didn't really like lowering herself to that standard of 'CRAZY FANGIRL'.

The rest of the day continued as normal, or as normal as everything seemed to her. She had only just gotten their yesterday, remember? After classes let out Katherine made a stop by her dorm to change out of her atrocious uniform. It wasn't that it wasn't cute it was, but she had a certain detest for skirts and dresses and that is what made it atrocious.

When the door of her room shut and locked with click and a turn, Katherine quickly slipped out of her uniform. She took off the black jacket and skirt and hung them in the closet. Her red neck tie was placed on the dresser and the long black socks were traded in for warmer winter socks. Katherine kept on the white button down shirt, but added a pair of light blue skinnies. She threw a black knit sweater over the white shirt and refolded the collar. Grabbing her converse prior to shutting the closet door, she sat on the desk chair to tie the laces; then took out her ponytail and brushed out her hair.

Katherine had changed out of her uniform in about 30 seconds flat. She was now walking through the town that surrounded the school after hiking a quarter mile down the boarding school's driveway. The little shops and cobble stone streets reminded her of Rothenberg. She had been there about six months ago in the summer everything was vivid and green. This town was not much different from that, except that it was winter of course. _'I wouldn't think that Japan would have towns like this. It isn't really traditional Japanese,'_ she pondered scanning the area around her.

There was a little café on the corner and a bunch of little boutiques with way over prices clothes. She was standing in front of a Jewelry store window and she also noticed a shoe repair man store further down. Katherine had yet to see any office supply stores and decided to stop inside the café to ask one someone on the wait staff there.

A tiny bell rung as she stepped into the Café, it was a sweet sound that echo through the tiny room and alerted people to her presence. She looked around her taking in the booths and tables; it appeared to be an ice cream shop. Katherine was making a mental note that this place was here when a waitress walked past her, " Sumimasen ga doko ni ofisu takuwae desuka?"

The waitress stopped and regarded the girl asking the question. She looked her up and down thinking about the question, "Third street down take a right it's by the post office."

"Arigatou," Katherine thanked the waitress before stepping outside and following her instructions. Just like the waitress said there was the post office and to the left of it across the street was the office supply store. She picked up several notebooks; some reams of college ruled paper, two binders, and packages of mechanical pencils, pens, and highlighters. All the supplies she was carrying in two white shopping bags one in each hand, when she saw it.

Katherine came to an immediate stop her mouth opened in a 'o'. She almost didn't see it which would have been a damn shame, but there it was. Tucked between two apartment buildings was a store, the sign broken but Katherine could tell that it had once spelt out the two words 'Ongaku and Hon'. Even if Katherine hadn't paid attention at all when Lucian was teaching her Japanese, she knew those two words were Music and books.

She rejoiced internally when she saw a sign in the store window with the word, 'aiteimasu,' printed in beautiful red kanji. Okay maybe it wasn't exactly beautiful; it was the same sign that was hanging in the window of every other shop Katherine had passed, but to her it was a beautiful sign.

When Katherine walked in she was immediately accosted with music blaring through the speakers. There were shelves everywhere piled to the brim with CD's and a table with milk creates stacked on top and under full of records. The second floor was more of a loft with a wooden banister looking out to the front of the store. Up there were the bookshelves filled with books.

_(Operator, operator, dial her back. Operator put me through. Satellite gave up a ghost to soon.)_

A woman in her early twenties walked out of the back and stopped when she saw Katherine. "Oh I'm sorry I didn't know you were here. You want me to turn down the music?" She asked politely.

Katherine shook her head, "No it's okay. I actually love this song."

The woman smiled, "Yeah it's one of my favorites too. You need help finding anything?"

Katherine shook her head, "No I was just going to look around." The woman nodded going back to what she had previously been doing.

Katherine browsed the shelves of the CD racks humming the lyrics of the song. "I loved her too long. Don't take her too," she sang quietly picking up a CD and reading the back.

_(Oh, how he crossed us on that fate, your path in my own satellite. What a mess a little time makes to us when time and space collide.)_

"Operator, operator, dial her back. Operator, operator, don't take her too," she put down the CD and picked up another one. Her eyes scanned over the title not finding it interesting putting it back another one catching her eye, "Modest Mouse." Katherine had already had one of their albums, 'Sad Sappy Sucker' and loved it. Lucian had given it to her on her birthday last year. ' _Good news for people who love bad news,'_ she read then flipped it over looking at the songs.

Katherine wondered towards the back of the store picking up several albums here and there. There was a set of metal spiral stairs in the corner going upstairs. When she got up there were shelves of books and began scanning the titles. She picked up a collection of essays of Camus and added it to the stack in her hands.

Upstairs was very comfortable it reminded her of an old study. The mahogany bookshelves and intricate woodcarvings made everything seem more mysterious there was a deep red love seat with its back to the banister. It was a nice place to just sit and read all day. Katherine would love to come here and read all day.

"Wow you got a lot of stuff," the woman said going through the CD's and books that Katherine placed on the counter. The woman looked over the familiar bands of White Stripes, Beetles, Muse, Modest Mouse, and The Black Keys. She scanned them and typed a few keys on the register, "3050 yen."

Katherine handed her a debit card. Lucian had opened a bank account for her that he put and allowance in every two weeks. When she was younger she hardly ever used it, even now she didn't really use it much except for things that she need or her Hobbies. She took the bag from the woman and thanked her, exiting the store.

The streets were a great deal more crowded than when she had walked on them before. Katherine stopped and sat down on a wooden bench. Her olive eyes watched the people around her absent mindedly. They landed on the face of a little boy. He had jet black hair a green hat on his head falling over his eyes.

Katherine let out an involuntary shiver. Something about that boy didn't seem right. He was holding a red balloon, bobbing up and down. It seemed like he was lost, maybe looking for his mother, but Katherine didn't want to go help him. She watched studying him trying to figure out why she felt frightened all the sudden. He had starting running disappearing into the crowd. _'What is that? That thing that made that boy different,'_ she wasn't able to place her finger on it continuing to stare at the place where he had been standing.

She had decided it would be best to head back to the school picking up her bags. Someone knocked into her and she dropped one of her bags. CD's and books spilled out on to the cobblestone. Katherine sighed crouching down to pick them up making sure they weren't damaged.

"Here," someone said handing her some of the CD's.

Katherine took them from his hands, "Ariga—"She paused looking at his face. He had the bluest eyes she had ever seen and messy blonde hair. He looked like one of those Calvin Klein models. She was a lost at words, her brain seemed to lose all thinking capacity. _'Wow he's gorgeous,'_ Katherine concluded, and then she noticed his mouth moving, ' _Oh shit is he saying something! I'm not even listening. This is bad. He's still talking pay attention! Okay, Katherine pull yourself together.'_

Aidou stared at the girl in front of him. It was obvious that she wasn't hearing a word he was saying. He recognized that look from his fan club when he talked to them. They'd give him that dead zombie expression and he knew they weren't hearing anything, however suddenly she seemed to snap too. "I'm sorry," the girl spoke calmly coming out of her trance, "I didn't hear a word you just said I was distracted by your face."

Her honesty surprised him. It was certainly something no girl has ever said to him before vampire or otherwise. The way she said it though was interesting like she was simply stating a fact, 'The sky is blue. The grass is green.' Aidou blinked, "I was saying that you should probably be more careful. Also you kind of looked a little piss when I knocked into—"

Katherine picked up the rest of her stuff slipping back into to the bag before standing. "I should be more careful? Isn't that a little hypocritical considering you're the one that knocked into me? You should watch were you're going," she retorted passive aggressively. Now normally she wouldn't react this way, but something about the combination of Jetlag, the massive amount of reading she had to do, and the way he was talking down to her just pissed her off.

Aidou put up his hands in surrender, "Okay, fine it's my fault." The girl was silent for a moment her doe-like olive eyes narrowed in thought, her luscious pink lips pressed together in a hard line. Aidou took this opportunity of silence for his eyes to scan over her face.

He didn't think her to be necessarily pretty, he had seen much prettier people than her, but she was decent to look at. Her olive eyes had this impression of innocence with just a touch of mischievousness to them. The only thing that could be considered pretty about her would be her golden brown hair that flowed down to her elbows in soft waves.

"Would you stop talking to me like that?" Katherine requested annoyed.

Aidou quirked an eyebrow in question, "Like what?"

"Like your Emily Post."

Aidou opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted. "Aidou! Aidou," another blonde haired guy came running up to them, just as gorgeous as the one she was currently talking to. _'What is it with this town is everyone unbelievably pretty,'_ Katherine asked. Unlike the one she was currently talking to this guy had these deep clover green eyes and his blonde hair was neat and orderly.

The green eyed person seemed to have just noticed her, "Oh, who is this?"

"I was just leaving," she remarked jadedly to him. Katherine got the sudden urge to bolt from the two people standing before her. It was strange she never had this happen to her before, but her subconscious was screaming at her to leave. She figured boredom was the way to get away from them without offending them too terribly, except for that other guy, _'What did green eyes call him Aidou?'_ , he could be offended for all she cared.

Ichijo watched as the girl turned on her heals and disappeared into the crowd. He made a puzzled expression before turning to Aidou, "So I'm guessing that you didn't catch him?"

Aidou shook his head, "No the stupid human girl got in the way. He ran the second he sensed me."

Ichijo sighed running his fingers through his hair, " Kaname-sama isn't going to be happy."

* * *

Katherine knocked on the door lightly. She was picking up the notes that Hiyoki was supposed to leave her. There was some shuffling behind the door before it opens revealing a girl. Yori-chan as Katherine remembered. She vaguely recalled seeing her sitting next to Yuuki when she got to class that morning.

"Hi Yori," Katherine greeted the other girl with a smile, "I was wondering if anyone dropped off notes for me?"

Yori regarded Katherine tiredly her amber eyes boring into her. "Hold on a minute," she closed the door than reappeared with a large black binder. Katherine took it from the girl's hands.

"Arigatou." Yori just nodded politely before closing the door. Katherine walked into her room and plopped the office supplies on the floor by the desk and the CD's and books on the bed. She placed the binder on the desk with other white one. The alarm clock that she forgot to set told her it was 5:30 p.m.

She threw herself on the bed face first with an aggravated sigh. _'I just want to go to sleep,'_ she complained to herself. Flipping over she stared at the ceiling feeling incredibly comfortable at the moment not wanting to move. Her eyes glanced at the clock again, "I should probably set that stupid thing."

Katherine sat up and grabbed the clock pressing the buttons until the alarm was set for 5:30 a.m. Then she placed it back on the tiny nightstand with the small lamp. She dumped the contents of the white shopping bag on to the bed sorting through the CD's.

Picking up the Modest Mouse album she turned and on her laptop placing the CD in the CD drive. A window popped up with different options and she clicked the 'open with Window's Media Player'. It took a couple second for it to load and she ripped the music on to her laptop as the playlist started to play.

_(Ice age, heat wave, can't complain. If the world's a large, why should I remain? Walked away to another plan. Going to find another place, maybe one I can stand. )_

Katherine picked up the books that she bought and arranged them on the shelves. She then placed the rest of the CD's on the desk so she could rip them later. She decided to start on her math homework, and took out one of the empty notebooks and rewrote her notes in it dubbing it as her math notes.

_(You don't know where and you don't know when. But you still got your words and you still got your friends. Walk along to another day. Work a little harder, work another way.)_

It only took her about 30 minutes to finish her math homework. She was now focused on the ionic bonds of chemicals in her science class. All she really had to do what read the chapter for this. Katherine paused in her reading listening to the current song.

_(Now the blow's been softened, since the air we breathe's our coffin. Well now the blow's been softened, since the ocean is our coffin. Often times you know our laughter is your coffin ever after.)_

She grabbed the CD and her eye scanned through the song list, "Satin in a coffin," she read to herself.

_(Well now the blows been softened, since we are our own damn coffins. Everybody's talkin about their short list. Everybody's talkin about death.)_

The song was completely morbid, but Katherine found that she liked it. Also there was some truth behind the words. ' _Everyone will die eventually. No one lives forever.'_ It was a depressing truth nonetheless it was still true. The idea sobered her a little, as her thoughts went to her parents.

' _It's almost the ten year anniversary,'_ she mused to herself. In truth the anniversary was that Sunday. The anniversary of the last time she ever saw them. Katherine closed her eyes as she recalled the memory.

* * *

_A five year old Katherine sat at a sturdy wooden table with a box of Crayola Crayons. She was doodling little flowers humming to herself. Her feet were swinging back and forth with her legs being too short to touch the floor. "Mommy! Mommy look it," she called holding up her latest artistic masterpiece._

_Jessica Taylor stopped what she was doing and looked at her daughter's picture, "It's beautiful honey. But it's look not look it."_

_"Look," Katherine said, but it sounded more like Loo-ke. Her mother smiled at her love in her eyes. "Where is mommy going?" She asked her child like curiosity coming to the surface._

_Jessica sighed coming closer to her daughter. Had Katherine been older she would have noticed the look of sadness that flickered past her mother's features. "Mommy and Daddy are going to work. We are going to leave you with Annie. You like Annie don't you?"_

_Annie was the nanny that often watched Katherine while her parents were at work. Katherine was quiet seeming to consider the question seriously then nodded, "I like Annie she got me a doll last week." Jessica smiled at her daughter._

_"There's my little girl," Evan Taylor said coming into the kitchen and picking up little Katherine. Katherine giggled as he flipped her upside down. Her mother just watched the two with a disapproving expression shaking her head._

_"Don't drop her on her head again," she joked, though her voice had a serious edge to it. Evan flipped the girl right-side up and stared at his wife in mock shock._

_"I thought we weren't going to talk about that in front of her," he whispered covering the little girl's ears though he was only joking too. Katherine watched her parents, confusion forming on her face._

_"Talk about what Daddy?" She inquired tilting her head to the side._

_"Daddy was just making a joke," her mother said taking her from her father's arms. She set Katherine down at the table again._

_DING. DONG._

_The doorbell rang, the musical chimes filling the room. "That'll be Annie," stated Evan matter-of-factly. Katherine's mother walked out of the kitchen to answer the door. While Evan crouched down to see was his daughter was doing._

_Katherine looked at her father, "Do you want to see Daddy?" Her dad smiled and nodded. Katherine put down the green crayon she was using and slid the paper to him. "That's me," she pointed to a little stick figure with brown hair and green eyes, "and that's Mommy," her tiny finger traveled to a larger stick figure with brown hair and green eyes, "and that's you," she finished tapping a stick figure with blonde hair and brown eyes._

_Evan studied the picture, "Who's that," his finger tapping the page were another stick figure was? This one was placed farther away from them and had black hair and gray eyes. Katherine glanced at where he was pointing and smiled._

_"That's uncle Luke!"_

_Her father stared at her puzzled, "Why would you draw him?"_

_"Because he's Mommy's and Daddy's best friend and even though he isn't here now I know that he is still my family. But since he's so far away I drew him over there," she explained like it should be obvious. Evan stared at the picture for a little longer then sighed._

_"Hi Kat," Annie said coming into the kitchen. Her short red hair pulled up into a ponytail. Katherine looked up and smiled at the nanny._

_"I want to build a snowman today," she told her plainly. Annie laughed then looked at the father for permission. Evan nodded saying it was okay. He left her in the kitchen with the nanny and took some bags from the closet putting them in the trunk of the car._

_"Okay we can do that after lunch," Annie told her messing up the girl's hair._

_"Katherine, honey come say goodbye," her mother called from the entry way. Little Katherine slipped from the chair and ran out into the living room. She ran up to her mother and jumped into her arms._

_"Goodbye Mommy," she said before planting a kiss on her cheek._

_"Don't I get one of those?" Her father asked coming back into the house. Katherine smiled at him making grabby motions with her hands. Evan took the small girl in his arms as she hugged him lovingly before kissing him on the cheek._

_"There you go," she remarked smiling._

_"Now be a good girl while were gone. Don't cause Annie any trouble," he told her kissing her forehead. Katherine nodded furiously before her father set her on the hardwood floor._

_"Katherine," her mother said kneeling down to the young girl, "I want you to know that we both love you very much. You're a strong person and no matter whatever comes you will get through it." The girl stared at her mother confused at this. She had never said something like this before._

_Jessica brushed a strand of her hair from her eyes, "We should be back by tonight. Be a good while we're gone and listen to Annie." She kissed her daughter on her nose causing the child to giggle. Then Katherine watched as her two parents shut the front door behind them; catching a fleeting glimpse of her mother's golden brown locks and her father's warm caramel eyes._

* * *

Katherine was pulled from her memories when a ringing started emanating from her computer. She moved the mouse and answered the skype call. "Hi Lucian."

Lucain smiled and greeted her, "Hey Kit. Happy first day! How was it?"

She sighed placing her hand under her chin. "It was okay I guess. You know how much I hate first days," she told him disinterested, "I'm pretty tired. Kind of want to stick my finger in an electrical socket, but I've got a lot of reading to do for my English class."

Lucian nodded, "Yeah but you can't skip them. What kind of reading?" Katherine picked up the two binders, "Good Lord, what the hell is that?"

"My notes. I don't think Shakespeare knew himself this well," she said setting them down.

"You could beat someone to death with those," he commented.

Katherine laughed, "That's what I said. But the teacher didn't find it so amusing. On a brighter note, I found this great used music and book store today."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah it was amazing. It's tucked between these two apartment buildings and the sign is broken. I don't think many people even know it's there. But I walked in and Satellite by The Kills was playing."

"I love that song."

"I know me too. There were CD's everywhere and there didn't looked like there was really any organized system. But I found some great stuff," She picked up the Modest Mouse album she was listening to," Two dollars and fifty cents. Also I found a collection of Essays from Camus in their original French, five bucks."

Lucian was highly impressed, "Wow. So your first day wasn't exactly a bust was it?"

Katherine shook her head, "No, it wasn't that bad. But a guy did bump into to me and make it seem like it was my fault," His eyebrows quirked up at that but he didn't interrupted her, "I kind of snapped at him though; I mean we were kinda both at fault, but he was talking to me like it was a huge inconvenience for him to stop and help me pick my stuff up."

"What did you say to him?" Lucian asked curiously.

She kind of cracked a smile at that question. "I more or less called him Emily Post," Lucian laughed, his dimples coming out as his mouth spread into a smile. Katherine had grown up with that smile, but it took a couple years for her to see it. When she first lived with Lucian he hardly ever smiled and more often than not it was a front so the little girl didn't get sad. "So how was your day? Anything exciting happen?" Katherine probed.

Lucian shrugged, "I've just been writing. One of the guys did get pantsed today though." Katherine laughed. "Well I should probably let you get back to your homework. Have you eaten yet?" Lucian said like a concerned parent.

Katherine shook her head. "Well go eat," he ordered she was about to protest, "No buts, Kit. Get your ass up walk down to the dining hall and eat some food."

"I haven't really been hungry," Lucian gave her a look, the same one he used to give her when she disregarded what he said and she was in trouble. "Okay fine I'll go eat," she said holding up her hands in surrender.

"I'll call you tomorrow. And Kit it'll get easier," he told her then ended the call. Katherine was exactly sure of what he was referring to, but she didn't know exactly why he said it. She chose not to dwell on it however and got up and went down to the dining hall. She had some beef stew and white dinner rolls with butter and Raspberry jelly (she ate about 10 of them) then went back to her room.

Katherine stayed up for another two hours and read the rest of the science chapter and got about one quarter of the way through the white binder before turning of the lights and going to sleep. The second her head hit that pillow she was out like a lite, but something in her subconscious was nagging her about that little boy with the red balloon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Baby chick is a play on words to Hiyoki's name. Baby chick in Japanese is Hiyoko so the two words can be easily confused.
> 
> Japanese Translations:
> 
> Sumimasen ga doko ni ofisu takuwae desuka. = Where is the office supply store?  
> Osihii deus. Omarisu ga daisuki desu. = Delicious. I love omelet rice.  
> Sensei = Teacher  
> Ongaku = Music  
> Hon= Book  
> Aiteimasu. = We're Open
> 
> Songs:
> 
> The Kills- Satellite  
> Modest Mouse- World's at Large  
> Modest Mouse- Satin in a Coffin


	3. The Night Class at Cross Academy

**I Don't Date Vampires**  
Chapter 2  
_**"The Night Class at Cross Academy"** _

* * *

' _I can't believe she had the audacity to call me Emily Post!'_ Aidou had never had anyone remotely speak to him like that. He was a Noble Vampire for God sakes. He tried to forget about the encounter when he and Ichijou had to inform Kaname-sama that they were unable to eradicate the level E vampire like they were supposed to. The conversation left a bitter taste in his mouth; that he, Aidou Hanabusa, had somehow been incompetent. And it was all because of that insolent human girl who got in the way.

Aidou let out an aggravated sigh beginning to retie his tie for what seemed like the tenth time that night. Having been distracted all last night during classes his thoughts consumed with her, he couldn't seem to focus on anything. He considered drawing her as he habitually did when he needed to vent, but decided that she wasn't worth his time. Aidou studied his appearance in the mirror straightening his tie finally getting it right, ' _There perfect.'_

"Hanabusa are you ready to go?" Kain asked checking on his cousin. He had noticed his strange behavior since yesterday and was praying that whatever was bothering him wouldn't cause his cousin to do anything stupid.

Aidou turned around and stared at his cousin. "I'm ready to go if you are," he answered nonchalantly with a wave of his hand. Kain examined his cousin, his amber eyes boring into him. He wasn't able to see anything wrong on the outside, so the problem has to be something internal. ' _It's probably nothing. I'm sure that he is only annoyed that he didn't get that level E,'_ Kain told himself pushing the thought out of his mind best he could.

The gates of the moon dormitory opened promptly at sunset and it was because of that reason that the day class students were expected to be in their dorms by that time. Though this rule was clearly stated in the student handbook and the price for breaking it was suspension, many of the day class students, especially the girls, flouted this rule. Yuuki Kurosu ran pushing and shoving her way through the crowd of students to get to the front gates.

"Everyone please step back and return to your rooms," she ordered placing herself between the mob of day class students and the moon dormitory, "You're all out past curfew for the day students and that is grounds for suspension." Yuuki's threat had absolutely no effect on the students, if anything it just made things worse.

"Don't get so bossy just because you're a perfect!"

"You're just trying to keep them all to yourself!"

"Just because you're the Headmaster's daughter doesn't give you the right."

Yuuki protested, "That's not it at all. It is my job as a prefect to—"

The girl was knocked backwards abruptly cutting off whatever she was about to say. The crowd began to push towards the gates again with much more vigor than before. There was no way that she would be able to hold them back by herself, ' _Damn it. WHERE THE HELL IS ZERO?!'_ It was days like this that Yuuki wished that he showed up on time.

Aidou strolled out into the courtyard waiting to greet his adoring fans. If anything it was the one thing that would take his mind off of that impudent girl. He vaguely recalled seeing a girl with golden brown hair a couple days ago when Kain had come to get him, but he didn't remember what her face looked like. ' _That was undoubtedly her. Maybe she would be there with the rest of my fan base,'_ he shook that stupid thought out of his head. A girl like that wouldn't lower herself to something as trivial as being a fan girl. That alone sickened him. That he even remotely thought that she had standards.

"KYAAAAA!"

A scream from the day class girls erupted over the wall as the gates started to open. Aidou shook himself out of his thoughts putting on a smile. "Ohiyou, Ladies! Still as pretty as ever I see," he greeted with his usual playboy demeanor, "I could hear you all this morning, so rambunctious."

Yuuki stared at Aidou-senpai, ' _Morning?'_

"Hanabusa," Kain said in warning.

"It's okay Akatsuki you're cool too," Aidou waved his cousin off. The blonde vampire stopped brusquely and shot one of the girls, "Bang!" He put down his hand which had been in the shape of a gun the index and middle fingers facing forward and the thumb acting as a trigger. The girl that had been shot fainted dramatically falling to the ground.

This action caused the girls to go into even more hysteria. They roughly pushed past Yuuki causing the girl to fall to the ground. "Shoot me Idol-sempai!"

"No shoot me!"

"Bang. Bang. Bang."

"Are you alright Yuuki?" Kaname asked holding out his hand to help the girl stand. Yuuki stared at him her eyes fading off in memory. The imagine of white snow stained red with crimson blood and Kaname standing above her with his hand stretched out much like he was now appearing in her mind. She placed her hand in his and let him pull her up. "They're always so difficult to manage," he chuckled slightly.

Yuuki immediately separated herself from his grasp, "Yes, I'm just fine. Thank you for your help." She was hyperaware of a hoard of girls glaring daggers at her back. Kaname sighed running his fingers through his hair.

"You're always so formal with me. It makes me very sad."

She looked apologetic in an instant, "Oh I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, it just that you saved my life I'm indebted to you."

Kaname gave a sad smile ruffling the girl's hair, "Don't worry about it anymore, it's in the past."

Aidou's attention was suddenly diverted from his fan girls when Zero Kiriyuu grabbed Kaname's wrist. ' _How dare he,'_ he glared at the silver haired boy. He wasn't the only one who found the act offensive, every one of the night class students stopped and glared. Ruka in fact looked about ready to rip him apart with her bare hands. "Class is starting, Kuran-sempai," Zero reminded the pureblood a hidden threat behind his words.

Kaname stared blankly at the perfect an amused smile pulling at the corners of his mouth, "Kowaii Mr. Prefect." Zero continued to glare menacingly as he watched him leave with the rest of the students until they were nothing but specks in the distance. Then he turned his glare on her his expression softening ever so slightly.

"You do realize you're completely obvious right?"

Yuuki glared at zero, "Shut up I know. It would never work between us though; a vampire and human could never work." She stared off into the distance sort of wistfully as she said this like she was watching something she wanted but could never have, which in a way she was.

"Listen up BRATS," yelled Zero turning his gaze on the day class students who remained, "Get the Hell back to YOUR DORMS!" This effectively sent the girls running, sprinting away putting as much distance as possible between them and Zero Kiriyuu. "Why do I have to deal with you all running around and screaming "KYA, KYA, KYA, KYA," every damn day?! Why?! You all give me a Fucking HEAD ACHE!" he growled as they ran screaming.

Something occurred to Yuuki causing her to punch Zero directly in the back, "You were late again! How many times have I told you to be on time, yet you weren't Again?! Useless Jerk!" Zero hissed in pain and annoyance turning around and pushing Yuuki away from him.

"That hurts."

"Well it should, maybe it will remind you to be on time," she retorted sauntering back to the headmaster's office. Zero sighed running his fingers through his hair before following closely behind.

* * *

"The fact that our night class is testing these newly developed blood tablets has been acknowledged all over the world,"Kain stared blankly not needing to hear this speech again, "You are the pride not only of this school but of the whole vampire race." He let out a yawn as the teacher, an older noble, ambled on about how what they were doing here was honorable.

"It's not that big of a deal," Ruka muttered flipping through the pages of a book. She too had grown tired of this speech.

"We're just a group study for it," Ichijou added with a sigh staring out the window.

"He really pisses me off," Aidou mutter maliciously his pen digging into the paper as he drew. He scribbled sketching out Zero angrily. Though it wasn't just Zero that pissed him off and that angered him even more because, ' _Damn it I'm not supposed to be obsessing over her!'_

Ruka glanced at Aidou as he muttered, "Zero Kiriyuu… who the hell does he think he is?! Grabbing Kaname-sama's wrist like that, a pureblood."

She wandered over to where the blonde was sitting scribbling furiously. Picking up the book and taking it from his hands her eyes scanning over the page. There Aidou had drawn a picture of Zero with the words idiot printed on his forehead, the detail he used when drawing almost made it seem like a real life picture. "Doing all this," she murmured continuing to stare, "it's like you're in love with him."

"Who would be?" He said snatching the book from her hands. "If I could I would destroy him, the stupid prefect," the vampire muttered darkly. His cousin didn't look so convinced at his words and was about to point that fact out when her attention was diverted by something one of the other vampires said.

Shiki had been gazing vacantly at the ceiling his head lulled back on the bench. "But her blood did smell exceptionally good," he mumbled to himself his stoic expression not changing, "that girl, Yuuki Kurosu." Kaname paused in the book he had been reading in the process of turning mid-page. Ichijou noticed Pureblood's clenched jaw signifying that he was infuriated at what the younger vampire had said.

"Senri," he warned cautiously.

The auburn vampire sat up and stared at Ichijou. Rima had placed herself at the desk behind him sitting on the desk rather than the bench, "Here you need to feed." She threw two blood tablets to him and Shiki caught them in his mouth. His lips quirked up into a semblance of a smile in thanks before returning back to his deadpanned expression.

"You seem to have taken quite an interest in that girl, Kaname-sama," Ruka stated plainly to the pureblood having also noticed his sudden tensed posture. She hid the bitterness of her jealously well from her voice, but there was a part of her that just wanted to ask 'why her and not me?'

Kaname closed the book he was reading, it wasn't like he was really focused on the words anyways. He had reread the same sentence about six times none of it making much sense to him. "Yes, you're right," he replied gazing out the window, his face as unreadable as always.

* * *

"This is ridiculous," Zero grunted annoyed. He and Yuuki stood in the Headmaster's office giving him a nightly report before patrols. The man was wrapped in a shawl sipping a cup of Earl Grey like he was the bloody Queen of England, pissing Zero off even more. "How can you possibly expect the two of us to guard those blood-sucking leeches and deal with those screaming idiots at the same time?" he demanded angrily slamming his hands on the sturdy mahogany desk.

Yuuki sighed watching the display, ' _Not this again. We go through this almost every night.'_

The Headmaster stared down at his cup of tea, "I admit that it is difficult to deal with every single night, but thank you both for your hard work."

"Then find someone else to help me before this whole thing implodes in on its self," he reasoned, "She is worse that completely useless, can't even hold back the day class students." Zero pointed at Yuuki who was standing behind him when he said the last part. She was instantly indignant.

"Hey I'm not taking that shit! Especially from someone who is late half the time and absent the rest," she yelled back crossly at the silver hair boy. The Headmaster and Zero disregarded her comment like it was never even said in the first place.

The Headmaster took another sip of tea, "Unfortunately that's impossible. The role of the prefects is critical to the night class and day class coexisting peacefully; you two are the only ones I trust." Zero stared at him incredulously, "Besides the job is a lot of long hours, sleepless night, and no respect; no one else would take it. And I know that my adorable daughter and loving son would never disappoint."

The last comment the Headmaster made angered Zero and he slammed his fist down on the desk break the beautiful wood in half, "I know you raised me, but I don't recall ever giving you permission to referrer to me as your son," he growled. The Headmaster set down his tea and stared disinterested at the damage running his hand along the break.

"You always pay too much attention to the details, Kiriyuu. It's such a pain."

The silver haired boy sighed, feeling like he was fighting a losing battle. "Hey Yuuki," he said getting the girl's attention, "You're more his kid than I am; don't you have anything to say?"

She thought about it reasonably considering all sides of the argument. Yes the job was difficult, and yes, the day class students were hard to deal with, but it was necessary for them to do it because no one else would. "The night class seems to be getting along pretty well with the other students," she said considering, "I'm just happy to help." Zero looked at her blankly, ' _Well you're hopeless.'_

"Yuuki you're such a good girl I'm so proud of you," the Headmaster said wiping away at a tear, " You are the only one who understands my pacifist idealism. That one day we will break through the years of hatred and prejudiced that lie between humans and vampires. I believe that if the youth of both species can grow together with open hearts and inquiring minds then it will build bridges over the dark past so humans and vampires can live in harmony with each other."

"I'm going on patrol Yuuki," Zero informed her having had enough of watching the man prance around the room, "this basket case is all yours." ' _And to think, I was pretty much raised by that idiot. Unbelievable,'_ he said to himself walking out the door. Yuuki stared at where Zero had left before turning back around to face the Headmaster.

"It's a shame, but I understand why Kiriyuu feels the way he does," he sighed staring at the door, "Even in the vampire community there are still evil creatures that prey upon the weak and defenseless. That is why the secret of the night class must never get out."

Yuuki slammed her hand on the desk, "Kaname would never do that and there are many kind and honest vampires just like him! They're pacifists." The girl's weight broke the desk even more, but the Headmaster figured that he was already going to have to replace it anyways. He stared at her curiously as she moved to the window opening it. "That's why it's going to be okay. Just sit back and leave it to us prefects," she told him simply before jumping from the window.

* * *

"Kurosu! Kurosu," the teacher called trying to wake the girl up! Yuuki was sleeping soundly on her opened notebook completely oblivious to the world. Yori leaned toward the girl's ear and whispered something not audible to anyone else. Katherine was seated behind them next to Zero who was also blissfully unaware of the world around him and glanced that the boy a little envious. She still had major jetlag and just wanted to fall over; unfortunately she had this incredibly annoying burning desire to stay awake even when she was dead tired. It was something that she always had being one of those kids who only pretended to take naps during the day instead of actually taking them.

"Itadakimasu," Yuuki called abruptly standing up from her seat, still half asleep. She held her pencil like a fork ready to devour the imaginary food. The class broke out into a fit of laughter, though Yori and Katherine tried to hide it behind their palms. The teacher looked disinterestedly at the girl who disturbed his lecture.

"You and Kiriyuu napping again?" He sighed pointing to the boy next to Katherine. Yuuki turned around seeing that he too was in fact sleeping. "You perfects sure are busy huh?" He questioned the girl.

Yuuki smiled apologetically, "Yes, I guess we are. Sorry to make you worry." This annoyed the teacher even more, that the girl could be so carefree over something like this.

"The both of you get detention," he said before returning back to the front of the class and continuing with the class.

* * *

"Ugh," Yuuki sighed aggravated, "I hate getting detention."

Yori quietly placed her books into her bag listening to her best friend complain. "It's your own fault for staying up all night and sleeping during the day," she said clipping it closed, "that's something only a vampire would do."

Yuuki shot up staring at her friend bewildered. "You don't actually believe in vampires do you?" She asked cautiously. Yori turned and gave Yuuki a look that clearly said, 'are you fucking kidding me?'

"Of course not, I was only joking," she answered standing.

"Wait Yori," Yuuki said grabbing the girl's jacket, "Will you come to detention with me. I hate having to do it alone with that jerk," she pointed to Zero who was now awake and putting his books away.

"No."

"Please Yori," she begged.

The other girl shook her head, "I thought you two were good friends."

Yuuki made a face seeming to be disgusted by that sentence, "As if! Zero is flakey, bad-tempered, and so gloomy that it would even send SpongeBob into a deep depression."

"Yuuki," the boy growled, "I can hear you."

She turned around sticking her tongue out at him, "I'm saying this because I know you can hear me." Katherine chuckled at the two finding the whole thing rather amusing and Yori smiled not being able to resist fanning the fire.

"And have you noticed the freaky way he's always so serious?" She added to Yuuki's speech.

Katherine place her hand on her cheek considering something, "Now that I think about it you two are perfect for each other," she muttered teasingly. Yuuki turned around glowered at the girl before her expression changed into a hopeful one.

"Katherine will you come to detention with me?" She pleaded her puppy dog eyes hitting the girl at full force. She watched as the girl blinked her olive eyes thinking it over.

"I'm sorry Yuuki," she told the girl shooting down her last hope, "I need to go back to my room and take a nap before catching up on my reading and studying for the makeup test on Monday."

"Jetlag still bothering you?" Yori inquired.

Katherine nodded her eyes blinking tiredly and letting out a yawn. "Yeah, I feel like I'm about to fall over. The funny thing about it is no matter how many times it happens it doesn't get any easier."

"Hey I have an idea," Yuuki told the two girls enthusiastically leaping from her seat, "How about you two come over to the Headmaster's house tomorrow night and we can have a study night? We can catch Katherine up on everything and help her for the test."

Katherine shrugged, "Okay, sure I don't have anything planned then." Yuuki stared at Yori as the girl decided.

"I guess I'll go too, you wouldn't be able to help her much on your own," she sighed at her friend, "no offense."

"Then it's settled you two come over anytime on Saturday, I'll tell the Headmaster to set extra places at the table that night," she smiled at the two clasping her hands together. The two girls nodded before saying goodbye and exiting the classroom leaving Yuuki in the room by herself. Zero had already left when the three of them were talking skipping detention.

* * *

"You know if you keep skipping detention like that you're going to get into even more trouble," Yuuki lectured Zero as the two patrolled the school grounds. It was a warmer night, but quite too they hadn't had any trouble from the day class or the night class; everything was completely at ease. The boy rolled his eyes at the girls incessant reprimanding, she had been lecturing him for about a half hour and it was getting old.

"So how's your hero doing tonight?" He changed the subject when he noticed Yuuki gazing into the window where Kaname Kuran was seated reading a book. Yuuki stuttered blushing.

"It's not like that! I was just looking at Kaname-sempai," she defended. He stared at her blankly clearly not believing a word she was saying. "It's nice out tonight. All the night class students are being well behaved," Yuuki said running to the railing looking over the forest, "There hasn't been any wanders from the day class either, it's almost like we're not even needed at all."

Zero glowered at her, "Do you really believe that?" He asked bitterly, "As if the day class and the night class could really get along that well? "

"I do," she answered him plainly. "I think it would be nice if vampires and humans could live among each other peacefully. It is my one wish," she was confident in her answer.

"I know the Headmaster believes that they are pacifist, but I don't believe it. There is too much conflict there for them to completely put it behind them," Zero said, "You said it once yourself, they only look like humans so they can hunt us down more efficiently. That's why I'm not going to let my guard down around those parasites," he told her then leaving turning right around the corner. Yuuki stared, ' _I wish that just once he would tell me what he's thinking. Why does he have to hold it all in all the time?'_ In truth Zero had always been like that from the very first day that the Headmaster had brought him home covered in the blood of his slaughtered family. Even as the years went on he hasn't really opened up and he still keeps walls built up around his heart as to not get hurt again.

Yuuki often wished that he would be more open with her, that maybe they would be able to talk about things. Zero never talks though, maybe on the outside they may seem like close friends in reality she doesn't even know anything about him. Not even basic things like his favorite food or movie, nothing. She thought about this moving on to another location making a mental note to find out more about him.

"Good grief," she muttered stopping at another veranda and seeing two girls wearing a day class uniform. ' _Why can't they just stay in their rooms for one night?'_ Yuuki groaned to herself. She jumped over the railing using a tree branch to slow her decent to the ground. Yuuki landed gracefully in a crouched position before standing up, "Being on school grounds after night fall is strictly prohibited. Give me your names and class," she ordered straightening her arm band.

The girls stared up at her fearfully. They each had light brown hair and brown eyes though ones hair was longer than the other's and the other one had a light pattern of freckles across her nose. "We just came to take pictures of the night class," the brown-long haired girl informed Yuuki regaining her composure first, "what the hell is your problem?"

The other girl, the one with the freckles, tried to stand hissing in pain. Her friend grabbed and supported her weight. "Are you hurt?" Yuuki asked concern and fear seeping into her voice, "both of you need to leave now it's not safe. Blood is really bad, go now both of you!" she said trying to push the confused girls away from the school. A sudden breeze blew past the three of them and Yuuki was quick to pull the Artemis rod from her thigh. "Who's there?" she demanded swing the rod behind her.

There was a spark of electricity as the rod came in contact with Kain's hand. "Kowaii," the strawberry blonde commented, "Though I would expect nothing less from the Headmaster's daughter." Aidou stood behind him lazily shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "We smelt blood and came to investigate," Kain said matter-of-factly examining his hand.

"Akatsuki Kain and Hanabusa Aidou from the night class?" freckles gasped in surprise. Yuuki wanted to roll her eyes at the girl's naivety only caring that her Idol was standing in front of her and not that she was the only thing standing in between him and her getting eaten.

"Yes, you really are cruel Yuuki," Aidou said stepping closer to the brunette sliding his hand down the Artemis rod, "pulling a weapon on us when we only came to investigate. In fact we came here specifically to see you."

Yuuki's grip on the rod tightens defensively, "Aidou, I swear if you lay a hand on them."

The blonde paused tilting his head curiously; he closed his eyes for a second inhaling deeply, "It smells delicious," he sighed. When he reopened them they were no long the pretty blue that made girls speechless. No instead they were a cold bone-chilling blood red that turned Yuuki's veins into ice.

"Oh did you hear that?" one of the girls asked the other, "he said we smell delicious."

"I don't really get it," the other replied with a squeal, "but it's a dream come true." Yuuki wanted to turn around and scream at the two girls. ' _What idiots! Run now why you still have the chance,'_ she tried screaming at them telepathically.

"Did you fall?" he questioned his hand resting above hers. ' _Oh shit, the tree. Why was I so stupid to jump from that tree,'_ Yuuki berated herself internally. "The blood we were talking about is your own, Yuuki-chan," Aidou informed her prying her hand from the weapon. The girl stared numbly at her hand that had a small gash that was bleeding steadily. "You really are tempting me," his voice coming out more as an animalistic growl than his normal soothing voice as he leaned towards it.

Yuuki immediately used her strength to try and pull away from him, but Aidou held her wrist firmly not allowing her to budge. ' _I can't pull away from him. He's too strong,'_ she wanted to cry this was too much like that vampire in the woods, whole situation giving her horrible flashbacks. "Aidou don't," she said fully knowing that it would do nothing to stop him.

The blonde smiled a mere centimeter from her palm; he opened his mouth his fangs protruding from his upper lip. The day class students that had been blissfully unaware of the danger they were in were now both horribly aware of it. "A fang?" the long haired brunette cried. They watched in horror as their beloved school Idol sunk his fangs into Yuuki's palm drinking her delicious blood. "Aidou stop it," she begged trying to weasel herself out of his grasp.

Internally Aidou knew that what he was doing would get him into so much trouble. He also knew that he should probably stop as to not drag Kain into his mess too. His cousin was only there because of him; he asked him to come with him and Kain could have easily said no. But Yuuki-chan's blood was so delicious, that he put all these thoughts and warnings towards the back of his mind. It had been so long since he had tasted human blood and Yuuki Kurosu was some of the best he's ever tasted; sweet, but not too sweet as if eating a plumb juicy pineapple when it's reached its peak of ripeness.

Kain stood awkwardly to the side looking away from the scene. He knew that he should stop his cousin, but with how he has been acting recently wasn't sure that was such a good idea. As kids, Kain was the more responsible one though Aidou was responsible too, but in a different way. He knew that his cousin could often times be unstable and self-destructive when upset, and though he wouldn't mean to would probably do more damaged to the girl than intended.

Aidou reluctantly tore himself from the girl's palm blood staining his lips. The day class girls fainted when his tongue darted out and licked his bottom lip. "Can I take it from your neck?" he asked though no matter what she said he wasn't going to actually do it. He brushed her hair away revealing her smooth olive skin. Yuuki was almost hyperventilating not knowing what to do to get out of this situation.

In the next moments things seemed to happen very quickly. First Kain turned around having had enough of this foolishness from his cousin, "Hanabusa—" Though he never finished what he was saying when a cocking of a gun and the barrel pressed firmly to Aidou's temple cut him off. Kain stared at Zero Kiriyuu as he had the bloody rose aim directly at his cousin's head. The boy looked almost murderous as he snarled.

"Get enough to drink? You and I both know that drinking blood on school grounds is strictly prohibited," he glowered at Aidou, "But by getting drunk of the scent of blood you've revealed your true self, vampire."

Aidou glanced at Zero his eyes narrowed ever so slightly. The boy's previous indiscretion still fresh in his mind he smirked licking his lips, "It was just a taste." He apparently pushed him too far though when a loud bang erupted by his ear. Aidou winced closing his eyes. After a couple of seconds his eyes still firmly closed and a persistent ringing in his ears he thought, ' _Am I dead? Is this what being dead is like? I hope not I'm going to go mad with that incessant ringing.'_

"You idiot, why did you shoot?" Yuuki yelled using the distraction to break away from Aidou. At feeling her presence leave his side the blonde vampire opened his eyes, now their normal blue color, and saw that in fact he wasn't dead. Instead of actually shooting him in the head, which was what Zero wanted so badly to do at that moment, he shot past him into a tree. Aidou silently thanking the universe for saving his life and not letting the silver hair perfect kill him.

"Please lower your bloody rose, Kiriyuu," Aidou tensed at the sound of Kaname's voice. He knew instantly that he was going to be in so much trouble as the pureblood walked up and placed a hand on his shoulder griping it tight enough to leave bruises. "You should be more careful Aidou, it's made to kill creatures like us," he said as Zero tucked the gun back into its holster, "Well then I'll take care of these two fools. However the Headmaster will need a full report on this incident and I'll have those two girls memories altered. Is that okay Kiriyuu?"

The boy glowered at the pureblood, "Just get them out of my sight, Kuran."

"Kain," Kaname called getting the taller vampire's attention, "Why did you stop Aidou, you're in just as much fault as he is?" The other vampire didn't answer not being able to find anything that would make this situation better. "I'm sorry about this Yuuki. I hope it didn't bring back any bad memories for you," he said his expression softening as he stared at the younger girl.

Yuuki blushed lightly, "No it's okay. He barely did anything." She hid her hand that Aidou had bitten behind her back nervously. Zero sighed getting quite annoyed at being there the smell of blood starting to get to him, he grabbed Yuuki's wrist pulling her away from the night class students. "Zero? Wait. What are you doing?" she demanded as he dragged her away.

When Kaname turned around both Aidou and Kain flinched visibly. The look on the pureblood's face clearly said once they got back to the dorm they were both getting their asses kicked. The three of them walked back to the dorm in complete silence, Seiren appeared before they left and took care of the two day class students receiving orders to take them to the Headmaster's office once she was done altering their memories. Aidou didn't say a word the entire trek through the woods feeling extremely remorseful for his behavior, but he was more remorseful that he got caught.

The front door slammed audibly as they entered the extravagant foyer of the moon dorm. "Sit down both of you," Kaname ordered through a clenched jaw. The two vampires did what he said without question placing themselves on the couch completely tense. "I shouldn't have to remind you two about the rules of this academy. Yet I find myself having to do it anyways, can either of you tell me why that is?" Neither Kain nor Aidou answered the pureblood. He sighed, "You know what, I don't even want to know what stupid choices you two made that led to this disaster."

"Aidou," the blonde looked up at his name, "I would think that you of all people wouldn't want to anger me so quickly, after your slip up two days ago."

"I apologize, Kaname-sama," Aidou said bowing his head in shame.

"Don't apologize to me Aidou unless you mean it," he retorted. Kaname took a deep breath hoping to calm some of his anger. Now why many people would actually seem angry on the outside the Pureblood was not, however that made his anger even more frightening because Kain and Aidou were unable to tell the extent of it. They watched as Kaname was seated calmly in the couch across from them his eyes staring them down, trying to figure out what to do about this situation. "I'm putting the both of you on suspension, 10 days. No classes, you will not leave the dormitory for any reason. Am I understood?" he stopped waiting for them to answer.

"Yes, Kaname-sama," the both answered respectfully.

"After that I'll have you both on close observation. You will not go anywhere without me knowing or do anything without me knowing. After time, based on good behavior, I'll reassess and give you more of your freedoms back," he told them then standing up and walking out the door.

Both of them were quiet not saying a word for a few minutes. Then Aidou got up and went to the kitchen, Kain followed him without a word. The blonde vampire opened the cupboard and took out a clear crystal champagne flute and filled it with water. He dropped two blood tablets with a plop and they fizzled as they sunk to the bottom of the flute.

"Hanabusa," Kain said as he watched his cousin sip the red liquid, "are we going to talk about this?"

"Talk about what?"

"What has been bothering you the last two days? Ever since you came back with Ichijou you've been distant and distracted," His cousin asked concerned placing himself on one of the counter stools.

Aidou looked at him briefly, "It's nothing."

"It's not nothing if it's effecting you like this," Kain reasoned.

Aidou set the glass down on the table roughly. "Look I don't really want to be talking about this right now. It's been a long night, I just want to go to sleep and wait until this all blows over," he spat out turning around. Aidou expression softens slightly, "Though I am sorry you got dragged into this mess Akatsuki. Just leave me alone for a few days, please."

Kain watched at his cousin left the kitchen. He heard a distinct slam of their bedroom door before staring at the granite countertop. If Aidou didn't want to talk about it he wasn't going to force him. That would only make matters worse and whatever it was bothering his cousin was something that he had to work out on his own.

* * *

"Are you okay, Yuuki?"

The girl in question looked up at the mention of her name. "Oh yeah I'm find," she answered waving her hand. Katherine didn't look so convinced and neither did Yori. Though neither girl did question her blatant lie they were both concerned for their friend's wellbeing. They were sitting in the living room around the Kotatsu their notes binders and papers strewn all over the table top.

"So do you think you got it, Katherine?" Yori quizzed the girl on the information they've been going over the last two hours.

"I think so," she answered resting her chin in her palm, "Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets. Of those 37 plays there are 17 comedies, 10 tragedies, and 10 historical plays. He wrote all his sonnets in iambic pentameter, except for the 145 sonnet which he wrote in tetrameter."

"Okay yeah, I think you got it," Yori said closing her binder. She sighed closing her amber eyes briefly. Katherine laid her head on the table with a sigh relishing in the warmth of the Kotatsu. Yuuki was reading over the notes.

"I don't understand why I've never sat under a Kotatsu before," Katherine commented, "It so warm. I feel like I could just sleep here forever." Yuuki laughed as the girl's peaceful expression, she looked to be already half asleep her eye lids drooping.

"You don't look too far from that," she observed. Katherine only nodded her head in response not lifting it from the table. "So what do you guys want to do now?" she questioned closing her binder.

"Whatever, I just don't want to move," Katherine mumbled her words barely being able to be distinguished.

Yori shrugged, "Same here."

"We could watch a movie," Yuuki suggested getting up and walking to the cabinet where the TV was kept. "What do you guys want to watch?"

"I don't really care," Yori said then staring at Katherine, "Katherine?" The girl shook her head mumbling something. Yuuki took that as she didn't care either and picked out a movie. The three girls watched the film all the way through, though Katherine listened more than she actually watched. Both she and Yori stayed at the Headmaster's house that night and all three girls ended up falling asleep under the Kotatsu.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys thank you for reading the second chapter of IDDV. I'm sorry if your disappointed there wasn't much Katherine in this chapter, but I evened it out with Aidou though. Katherine is still unaware of the supernatural world so I couldn't put very much of her in this chapter, but she will be prominent in the next one.
> 
> If you like this story please leave a comment. Even if you don't and you hate it, tell me why. I can't do anything to make it better if you don't give me your opinions.


	4. Chilly Winter Afternoons and Dorothy Parker

**I Don't Date Vampires**  
Chapter 3  
****_"Chilly Winter Afternoons and Dorothy Parker"_

* * *

The days had been passing by quickly for Katherine; it had been about two weeks since she started attending the prestigious Cross Academy though it only really felt like three days to her. She had hit her stride within the first three days. It started when the girl had realized that when the night class and the day class made their switch was the best time to sneak off of campus. No one was watching, the prefects being too preoccupied with the night class and those day class fan girls that they didn't even notice when someone just walked out the front gates.

And where did Katherine go? Well the answer is pretty simple, to the bookstore of course. It was the one place that she felt completely at ease, surrounded by her three favorite things music, books, and coffee. She snuck off there almost every day. The owner, Ayame, always had coffee there and the two bonded quickly over books and music. It turned out that she went away to New York to go to college but came back to Japan to run her parent's store when her father died.

Katherine shared stories about her travels with her uncle. Telling Ayame about the different foods, cultures, and people she's run across. While she told stories about New York and crazy college parties. Katherine would often help her do inventory, staying there long into the night, but always managing to get back to campus before classes in the morning. This routine is what made her happy.

It was now one of those times that she snuck out of the school. However it was Saturday today and she didn't have classes until Monday, so Katherine got a head start. The sun was just starting to rise over the horizon as the girl ran from tree to tree, the experience made her think of some sort of espionage mission which caused her to have the _Mission Impossible_ theme running though her mind. The Night class was still in classes and had yet to return to the dorm. So that meant the she had to dodge the prefects. It wasn't that difficult though, Yuuki and Zero were very predictable, actually any of the day class students could do it if only they had the patience for it.

Katherine stopped behind a tree her back pressed firmly to the trunk; the orange glow of the sunrise shining on her hair caused it to look redder than golden brown. She counted quietly in her head having to get the timing just right, ' _One, Two, Three.'_ Yuuki ambled between the trees, though where she was standing couldn't see Katherine hiding. She looked around for a few seconds seeing no one there before moving onto somewhere else.

As soon as Yuuki had disappeared and was out of hearing distance Katherine was on the move again. She moved silently dressed in her black leather jacket and a black pair of skinnies she blended in easily with the abundant shadows casted by the trees. Katherine slowed to a stop seeing the boundary wall of the school. It was about 12 feet tall and was built out of old gray stones that seemed older to Katherine that the school itself. There growing next to the wall was a large oak tree. Its branches spreading up and over the wall it served as the perfect ladder.

Katherine jumped gripping one of the lower branches and climbed up easily. Then she crawled on one of the branches, it being about as thick as she was, and lowered herself onto the wall. The wall itself was two feet wide and she could easily balance as she walked down to the bus stop. There the rain cover allowed for her to climb down safely without breaking anything.

Landing on the ground it didn't take Katherine long to get to the book store. About 30 minutes or so she was running up the concrete steps. The store opened every day at 7:30 a.m. and Ayame had just put out the open sign seconds before Katherine showed up. The bell ringed as she entered the store. It was a chilly morning and the warm heated air greeting her like a welcoming hug, wrapping her up in a warm embrace.

"Hey, Kit," Ayame said coming to the room carrying a large black milk create filled to the brim with CD's, "I have doughnuts back there if you want any and here's a box for you to start on." She set the milk create on the counter. "I'm sorry I can't pay you for doing this," she remarked apologetically.

"Oh it's perfectly okay," Katherine waved it off, "You let me get first pick of everything, that's payment enough. Also you bring me coffee and doughnuts and we both know I'm susceptible to that." Ayame smiled at the girl.

"How's school going?" She asked sorting through another box of CD's.

"It's good; though I miss the freedom of being able to go where I want when I want to. On the other hand I also like being in one place. It gets tiring constantly moving and it's nice to relax," Katherine answered sorting through her box.

"I bet it would be," Ayame commented. Both the girls talked about this and that as they sorted through the CD's and shelved them together. Katherine enjoyed it, Ayame was kind of like a big sister and she had never had one of those before.

* * *

"Aidou," Ichijou called catching the blonde vampire before he went to sleep, "I need you to get me something."

The blue-eyed vampire gave Ichijou a look that clearly said, 'get it yourself and piss off' though the other vampire ignored it. "What is it Takuma?" He asked irritated. Aidou was tired and more than anything he just wanted to go to sleep. It had been a long ten days, probably the longest ten days he had ever experienced. And now that his suspension was done he constantly has Seiren following him everywhere. She never let him out of her sight and neither did this cousin. The constant presence of both of them and not being able to be alone was making him very irritable.

"I have to get this book. I was going to go myself but something came up, family stuff you know," Ichijou explained. He knew that Aidou wasn't angry at him, but just angry in general. "Besides I thought that this being your first Saturday not on suspension you would want to get away from the dorm," he leaned in a bit closer so only Aidou could hear, "and with no one knowing that you left you wouldn't have Seiren or Akatsuki on your back."

Aidou stared at Ichijou thinking it over before conceding. "Okay so what kind of book is it?" He sighed.

"Just a book," he said handing Aidou a piece of paper with the words 'One Republic by Plato'. "There is this little book store down on block 8, building 7," Ichijou told him the address, "Arigatou Aidou." He took off down the hall leaving the other vampire standing in the foyer.

Aidou wandered down the streets through the town, looking for this book store. It was a cloudy day and the sun was barely shining, ' _Thank God,'_ praised the vampire. Though with no sun it made everything seem gloomier than it was, more haunting. He just wanted to get this book, get back to campus and sleep.

It was chiller than normal January afternoons there. Typically they wouldn't even get snow except on rare occasions and the leaves stayed on the trees for the most part in reds, oranges, and yellows, if not green. Aidou could see his breath as he breathed. The little whiffs of swirling fog that came out every time he opened his mouth were almost hypnotizing. He stopped finally seeing the building, ' _this is a book store_.'

It looked nothing like he was picturing in his mind, not that he was picturing anything though. He just thought it would seem like every other book store that he'd been to, a nicely painted sign, people walking in and out with purchases, and maybe annoying kids running around with their mothers. But this store seemed to be abandoned from the outside, the sign barely distinguishable, no one walking in and out, and definitely no annoying kids running around.

Aidou walked up the steps and opened the door a tiny bell announcing his arrival. He looked around curiously at all the shelves and tables stacked with CD's and records. It reminded him of that American Reality TV show, _Hoarders_. There was music playing though the speakers softly, but it was still loud compared to other places he'd been. He was unfamiliar with these lyrics, the seemed to be in German or what not.

_(99 Luftballons. Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont. Hielt man fur Ufos aus dem All. Darum schickte ein Gerneral 'ne Fliegerstaffel hinterher. Alarm zu geben, wenn es so war. Dabei war'n da am Horizont Nur 99 Luftballoons.)_

Aidou watched as a young blonde woman in her early twenty's walked out of a back room. She was wearing a heavier brown winter coat and putting on some gloves. The woman looked up to the loft area that, Aidou had just noticed. "Kit," she called, "Watched the store, okay. I'm going to go out and get some lunch you want anything?"

Aidou observed as a figure moved on the deep red loveseat, "Strawberry Milkshake and Some fries." He immediately recognized the voice. It was her, that girl that somehow unnerved him with just a few words. "But you do realize that I don't work here, right?" The person said loud enough for the blonde woman to hear.

"You do realize this isn't a Library don't you?" She retorted.

"Well played," The woman shook her head at the girl though she couldn't see. Then turned around and left the store without casting so much as a glance at Aidou. The blonde was unsure of what to do. It seemed that that girl was the only other person in the store besides him.

Aidou moved toward the back of the store seeing a set of metal spiral stairs. He walked up them being met with the sight of her being curled up on the loveseat. She had her nose buried in a book, no surprise, and was intensely reading. Too engrossed in what she was reading her eyes never left the page and it seemed to Aidou that the girl was completely unaware of his presence.

Katherine felt like someone was staring at her. Her eyes glanced up from the book and saw him standing there. The same messy blond hair, same pricing blue eyes that she had seen a two weeks ago. He was dressed similarly to how he was that day, simple button-down under a sweater vest, nice slacks, and a dark navy blue trench coat. "Oh, Ohiyou," she greeted sitting up. Katherine placed the book she was reading on the cushion next to her. "Do you need help finding something?" She asked standing.

' _She seems more polite,'_ Aidou thought before answering. "I need to pick up a book for a friend. Your filing system seems to be nonexistent," he said.

"Yeah it gets that way," she smiled taking the piece of paper from his hand. Her eyes scanned over the letters before looking around her. Aidou followed as she walked around a row of bookshelves her fingers running over the binding. Her hair was braided today, unlike the last time he saw her. It was a messy French braid that started at one side of her face and went around the back; she was wearing a slouchy black beanie on her head that allowed for her chin-lenght bangs to flow out of the hat. Actually she was wearing completely black today, a black long-sleeved shirt under a black leather jacket with black skinny jeans and black converse.

"Here it is," she said pulling out the book from a taller shelf. Aidou took it from her and stared at the cover making sure it was the right one. Katherine stared that the guy standing in front of her, ' _He's even more gorgeous than I remember. How is that possible?'_ She was starting to feel a little guilty for what she had said to him last time the saw each other, but is wasn't like it was completely her fault because he was in fact being an Emily Post. Katherine decided to apologize anyway, "Hey I'm sorry about what I said last time we met."

Aidou stared at her, ' _Is she really apologizing?'_

"I had major jetlag and only got about four hours of sleep in a four day period. It kind of turned me into a bitch," she told him with a shrug, "It wasn't anything personal."

"Thank you," he replied still trying to wrap his mind around how she referred to herself as a bitch.

Katherine smiled, "Now that that's out of the way," she held out her hand, "Katherine Taylor." Aidou stared at her curiously. "Oh that's right Japanese people don't shake hands," she told herself.

Aidou couldn't help the chuckle that escaped from his lips. "Aidou Hanabusa," he said holding out his hand. Katherine stared at him then taking his hand and shook it. "Do you work here?" He followed her back to the loveseat.

Katherine shook her head, "No I just spend a lot of time here. This is usually where I study. Campus is so dreary." She sat down picking up her book again, "You're part of the night class right?" Aidou nodded. "Shouldn't you be..." she trailed off thinking about it, "I don't know -sleeping?"

"Yeah I guess," he sighed. Katherine placed the book in her lap not really reading as she stared at the blonde standing in front of her. Aidou studied her interestedly, "I thought day class students weren't allowed to leave campus."

"We're not," she smirked, "however I've never been one for following the rules." Katherine stared at the boy standing in front of her as she said this then picked up her book returning to the pages, "You can sit if you want to. I would check you out but Ayame doesn't let me use the cash register."

Aidou hesitated. He really wanted to go to sleep, but doing that would mean going back to campus where Kain and Seiren were looking over his shoulder waiting for him to mess up. What surprised him more than anything though was that part of him actually wanted to stay, but that was ridiculous, "How long will she be gone?" He asked.

Katherine shrugged her olive eyes not leaving the page, "Could be thirty minutes or it could be two hours." Aidou conceded with a sigh before plopping down on the red loveseat next to the girl. He rolled his head back and closed his eyes. Katherine glanced at him for a second then went back to her book. The two were silent for quite some time neither saying anything the only noise was the music playing through the speakers.

_(If the fish swam out of the ocean and grew legs and started walking. And the apes climbed down from the trees and grew tall and started talking. And if the stars fell out of the sky and my tears flowed into the ocean.)_

* * *

Aidou cracked open his eyes and stared at the girl sitting next to him. She hadn't said a word to him since he sat down, but he found that he didn't mind. "What are you reading?" He inquired curious.

Katherine held the book so he could see the cover. It was written in English, though Aidou was fluent in English, so he could read it easily. ' _The Portable Dorothy Parker,'_ he read to himself. "Any good?"

"Define good," she replied.

Aidou grabbed the book from her hands reading the page she was on, "Daily dawns another day; I must up, to make my way. Though I dress and drink and eat, move my fingers and my feet, learn a little, here and there, weep and laugh and sweat and swear, hear a song, or watch a stage, leave some words upon a page, claim a foe or hail a friend- Bed awaits me at the end." He stared at the page pondering over the words.

"You speak English?" Katherine mumbled to herself in English. Aidou heard though and looked at her.

"Why wouldn't I?" He questioned in Japanese.

She sat back settling into the cushion, "Few people I've met so far aren't that fluent. They're only just learning or can barely hold a conversation." Katherine stared up at the ceiling as she said this, her mind going to her uncle. Lately she had been getting sort of homesick, which is funny considering that she didn't technically have a physical home. She guessed more than anything she was just missing her uncle and everything around her was so foreign to her. The fact that she met someone else who was fluent in English made her sort of happy.

Katherine sat up coming out of her train of thought, "What about you?" Aidou stared at her confused not understanding the question. "I told you something about me it's your turn," she clarified taking the book from his hands.

"I wouldn't count that as something about you."

She rolled her eyes, "No I said I have a habit of not following the rules. That counts."

Aidou saw that she wasn't going to let it go until he told her something about himself. "I grew up with my two cousins, I'm closer to them than my actual siblings," she nodded.

"That must be nice," she sighed wistfully, "I'm an only child and it's always just been me and my uncle." Aidou noticed how she didn't mention her parents, but her uncle. He was curious as to where they were and why she would be with her uncle. However the look on her face when she said this made him not want to ask. She had this faraway distance look of sadness. The kind of look someone had when they'd lost someone close to them and were remembering that person.

A ringing of the front store bell broke the girl out of her thoughts. She glanced over the railing seeing Ayame. "She's back," Katherine commented to Aidou. He watched as she stood stretching her arms over her head. Katherine closed her eyes and made this little noise as she stretched. "You coming?" She looked down at him.

Aidou blinked his cerulean eyes, "Yeah I'm coming." Katherine regarded him then turned and went down the stairs with him following closely behind. Aidou was slightly confused at his train of thought. The way Katherine had stretched combined with that noise she made was actually kind of cute, as if she was a little kitten just waking up from a nap.

Ayame turned around handing Katherine her milkshake and fries. She thanked Ayame popping one of the fries in her mouth then blonde twenty-something year old turned and just noticed the boy standing behind Katherine. "Oh Hi," she greeted, "You weren't waiting long I hope."

"Don't worry Ayame," Katherine brushed off, "I kept him entertained." The girl took of the lid of her milkshake dipping a fry into it then popping said fry into her mouth. The saltiness of the fry mixed with the sweet strawberry flavor of the milkshake combining together to make a sweet-salty taste on her tongue. Ayame studied the girl wearily as she had her fries. She wasn't able to comprehend why Katherine at them that why because to her it was gross. But whatever they're her fries.

Aidou paid for the book and Ayame thanked him for his business. Katherine had disappeared back up to the loft area munching on her fries and reading Dorothy Parker. He could just make out the top of her hat from where he stood. As he opened the door Katherine peered over the loveseat, "Bye Aidou," she said causing the blonde vampire to look up at her.

"Bye," he replied watching as she nodded before sinking down back into the loveseat out of view, then left the store.

* * *

Over the next week Aidou had come into the story every day. He wasn't sure why he came to that book store when he'd rather be sleeping, but something about Katherine intrigued him. The more time they spent together the more she baffled him. They didn't really talk to each other much mostly just reading books or her just going through CD's. However it surprised him most when she asked a question that he himself had never considered.

* * *

_Katherine was browsing through the shelves seeing what gems she could find, while Aidou was sprawled out on the loveseat his feet propped over one of the armrests. The girl had had a question plaguing her mind since the blonde boy had started coming regularly to the book store. She considered what would be the best way to bring it up, but was unable to find anyway besides bluntness._

_Aidou was skimming through one of the books that Katherine had placed in her pile. Like most of the books she bought, this one was written in English. And was in fact quite interesting. It wasn't a novel or a biography, or a collection of essays or short stories, it was a study. This book that he was reading was a studying on success. And Aidou was engrossed in it._

_She glanced at the boy her expression pondering. '_ You know what, screw it, _' she thought to herself before the question that had been plaguing her mind left her mouth, "Aidou, are we friends?"_

_His eyes shot up at that question staring at Katherine. She stood there her hand resting on one of the shelves and her doe-like olive green eyes boring into his cerulean blue ones waiting for an answer. Aidou blinked. He hadn't actually considered it. "I guess we are," he drawled in realization._

_Katherine studied him a second longer before turning back to the books, "Interesting," she muttered._

* * *

After that the two started talking to each other more. Katherine was disappointed when Aidou told her that he didn't really listen to music. She gave him a beseeching look saying something along the lines of, "We're going to have to fix that."

However Aidou was supremely surprised when he found out that she was fluent in five languages. "I have trouble believing that you speak French," he told her incredulously.

"Why is that so hard to believe?" Katherine asked, "I mean you don't question me on English, Japanese, German, or Portuguese?" She was gazing at him through the rows of books on the other side of the bookshelf. He shrugged nonchalantly searching the through the books.

"You just don't strike me as the type of person who speaks French."

"You want me to prove it you to you," she questioned taking this conversation as a challenge?

"Sure, why not?" He retorted staring her right in the face. Katherine narrowed her eyes pausing briefly waiting for the opportune moment.

That moment arrived seconds later when Aidou had taken a sip of his coffee. "Voulez vous coucher avec moi ce soir?" He immediately choked on his coffee. Coughing, hacking, and gagging as he crouched over trying to catch a breath. Katherine started laughing walking around the bookshelf patting the boy's back trying to help him breathe, while she herself was having trouble because of her laughter.

"Do. You. Have. Any. Idea. What. You. Just. Said?" He asked her between coughs. It felt like he was breathing through a straw and the stinging of his lungs was pretty painful. Though through everything there was a slight blush making its way across his face either from the lack of sufficient oxygen or the fact that his was thoroughly embarrassed, it was probably a little of both.

Katherine just smiled innocently her laughter subsiding for the time being. "Of course," she answered like he had just asked the stupidest question she had ever heard, "I asked if you would like to have to have sex with me tonight."

The way she had said it so calmly as if it were a simple fact caused his face to get redder, this time with annoyance. "Well, at least you're well informed," he managed to comeback with sarcastically through his irregular breathing. Katherine burst out into laughter again at his remark.

"God," she cackled slapping him on the back dislodging the coffee from his lungs, "You need to learn to take a joke. It's the lyrics a song I wasn't being serious. Oh, but your face… Priceless; I wish I had a camera."

Aidou glowered at the girl, "You waited until I had coffee in my mouth to say that didn't you?" She paused at his accusation a smile pulling at the corners of her lips.

"Yep." ' _Didn't even try to deny it,'_ he sighed staring at the girl in bewilderment. Neither of the two was aware of it, but this was the beginning of a crazy, annoying, wonderful, and eccentric friendship. A friendship that in the long run would either tear people apart or bring them closer together. Who could say though really? Even I, the narrator, am not God.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place between chapter 1 and 2 of the manga. It's like a week and a half period in between. I loved writing the scenes with Aidou and Katherine, they're both so fun to write. Especially the last scene.
> 
> The songs referenced in this chapter are as followed:
> 
> 99 Luftballoons- Nena
> 
> Black and Gold- Sam Sparro
> 
> Lady Marmalade- Christina Aguleria
> 
> There will be more scenes with these two in the next chapter and you will also see Lucian too. And get to hear about some of Katherine's wacky childhood traditions with her uncle.


	5. Extra One-shot: You're Such a Pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys and gals. Sorry to say that this is not the next chapter of IDDV. The next chapter is going to be longer than the others because of the amount of detail I have to go into like 7,000 or 8,000 words.
> 
> However I hoped you liked this little one shot. I've had an idea to write this for awhile, but I couldn't figure out a way to work it into the actual story. So instead I just made it a one shot. I'll probably reference this later as things progress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Edit 2/1/15: So something that I've been thinking about awhile has recently come to my attention to include disclaimers in my story. The reason I haven't up until now is because I thought it went with out saying, but to keep people from getting all butt-hurt I thought it would be best to add them just in case. This is a fanfiction. As a parody any resemblance to any other previous published literature (i.e. books, song lyrics, poems, ect.) or any broadcast-ed media (i.e. movies, television shows, skits, plays, ect.) is purely coincidental. This is by no means me trying to pass of other peoples work as my own and as such this is completely nonprofit. I don't get paid to write and I am not using these stories as a means of collecting money.
> 
> Inspiration for this update is credited to Disney's "Lilo and Stitch" (2002).

**I Don't Date Vampires**  
One-shot  
_**"You're Such a Pain"** _

* * *

Katherine walked down the steps watching as other kids ran past her eager to get home. The other kids went away with their parents smiling happily as she looked on with envy. Lucian was supposed to pick her up, but he was late again. She sighed; her olive eyes blinking annoyed glaring at everything around her. One would think she would have gotten used to it by now. Being alone. It had been year already since Lucian had shown up on her door step and taken her in. She should be used to it, but she wasn't.

* * *

_"Annie, when are Mommy and Daddy coming back?" Katherine asked worriedly sitting next to the redhead. It had been almost a week since her parents had left for work, claiming that they'd be back by that night. However they never returned._

_Annie stared down at the little girl trying to hide her worry. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor had told her that if they didn't return home that she shouldn't worry and just take care of Katherine. This wasn't the first time this had happened, but this was the first time they had been away for so long without calling. "I don't know Kat," Annie answered truthfully. She was tired of lying to the child._

_*DING DONG*_

_The doorbell rang and Annie stood up to answer it, quietly thanking the heavens for giving her a distraction from this conversation. Her hand gripped the door knob firmly as she wrenched the door open. Though when her eyes saw who was there she froze, completely still._

_A man in his early twenties was standing on the threshold. His midnight black hair mused messily, as if he had been running his fingers through it in stress. He was wearing a black shirt and dark jeans with a leather jacket the hazel irises of his eyes bored into her with a completely focused expression. Annie immediately recognized the man; there were pictures of him hanging up in the entryway and by the stairs, yet she had never met him personally._

_"Hello," the man addressed her," my name is Lucian Solvensky. I'm an old friend of Evan and Jessica. May I come in?" Annie nodded still in shock unable to form words. She stepped aside and let him enter the house closing the door behind him. The woman hadn't expected him to be so… handsome. She had seen the pictures, but in person he just seemed so much more…regal. "This is a lovely home," Lucian commented looking around, "though I'm sure that you're already aware of why I'm here, Annie."_

_She wasn't sure of how he knew her name, but she just nodded numbly. Lucian being there just drove home the fears that she was trying to suppress. Something had happened to Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, it was the only reason that he was there. They had told her once that should Lucian ever come to the house, when they weren't there that Katherine was to go into his custody._

_"Kat," Annie called, "come here I have someone who wants to meet you."_

_The little girl slipped from the couch in the living room and ran into the foyer. Katherine instantly froze when she saw Lucian, much like Annie had, her golden brown waves swirling from the sudden movement and her olive green eyes staring at the stranger in confusion and curiosity. Lucian smiled warmly at the child though it was a little forced, "Hello Katherine."_

_Katherine blinked. "Hello," she mumbled shyly her eyes falling to the hardwood floor in uncertainty._

_"You probably don't know who I am. My name's Lucian, though you can just call me Luke. I'm a friend of your parents," he explained the smile still firmly on his face._

_"I know," she replied, "Mommy and Daddy talk about you a lot and there are pictures of you together with them." Lucian was surprised at how grown up she sounded, definitely not like she was five years old. "Did something happen?" Katherine blurted out her little face scrunching up in worry and her eyes flashing panic._

_He stared down at the girl watching as a thousand emotions crossed her face. The worry, panic, sadness, and fear of losing her parents was shown clearly as her little mind started to process what was going on. Unfortunately he didn't have any good news for the girl and was at a loss for words on how to proceed. How does someone tell a child that both their parents were missing? "I'm sorry," Lucian said kneeling down to be eye level with the girl, "but your parents aren't coming back any time soon. They told me to stay with you until they could though." Katherine's eyes started to tear up at his words barely able to comprehend what he was telling her._

_"What happened?" She demanded in a calm voice despite the tears that had already started to spill from her eyes._

_Lucian let out a sigh placing his hand on Katherine's shoulder hoping to comfort her. "I don't know," he said defeated, "But I promise you that I will stay by your side until we find them okay." Katherine gazed at the man in front of her. He had such a determined expression when he made that promise, she believed him. They say a child is a judge of good character because whatever it was about Lucian that made her trust him from the beginning was the reason that on that day she was going to follow what he said without question._

* * *

After that day Lucian had stayed with Katherine for six months in that house, although when the Colorado state police declared that Evan and Jessica Taylor were officially a cold case, she had moved back with him to Brazil; Rio de Janeiro to be exact. They lived together in a fifth-floor walkup, Lucian was working at one of the many papers there as a Journalist and when Katherine had gotten old enough he had enrolled her in an elementary school ten blocks away.

Katherine was currently standing on the steps of this elementary school waiting for Lucian. She could've easily just walked home. She knew where the spare key was, in the plant next to the door, but he told her that a social worker was coming today and he couldn't leave her home alone. Katherine was determined to do what he asked and wait.

Suddenly someone knocked into Katherine rather forcibly causing the small girl to stumble down a couple of the steps and scrape her knee. She hissed at the scrape her fingers brushing it tenderly blood smearing onto her fingers. There was laughter behind her and Katherine stared behind her cautiously seeing who had pushed her down.

Standing at the top of the steps was Carilena Barros and her group of cohorts. She was easily the biggest bully in the school and was constantly the vain of Katherine's existence. The girl fought the urge to glower at the pretty little Portuguese, choosing instead to take the high road. That decision was derailed when Carilena spoke.

"Oh, silly me," she said feigning innocence, "I can be such a klutz sometimes, though you look good with a little dirt on you." Katherine stood up calmly not letting the other girl get to her. "I'm talking to you!" she yelled when she was flat out ignored. When the other girl didn't turn to look at her she huffed again saying something else to her friends. "It's probably because of your lack of respect that your parents abandoned you. You should learn to listen when someone is speaking to you, you know," she added spitefully.

Katherine stopped at the last part. She knew that she was just trying to get a rise out of her, but that bitch crossed a line, as Lucian would say. Carilena was standing as the bottom of the steps now her arm crossed over her chest staring smugly at the golden brown haired girl feeling proud for her insult. "What did you just say?" Katherine requested in a deathly calm voice.

Carilena sighed exasperated, "I said," she began like it was a gigantic hassle to repeat herself, "that if you've learned some respect and listened to people when they talked to you then your parents wouldn't have left you."

Hearing her say it again just made that hatred and rage that she felt toward the girl just come to the surface. Her little hand clenched into a fist at her side so strained that her tiny knuckles were turning white. "Just making sure," Katherine retorted in that still eerily calm voice. Carilena was about to sneer again seeing that her words had gotten to the girl, however before she could Katherine had swiveled on her heels and coldcocked her right in the face.

A twisted smile pulled at the corners of her lips when Carilena let out a horrified screech. She was clutching her nose thoroughly freighted of the six year old standing in front of her. Blood trickled down her hand and Katherine smile victoriously at that, ' _With any luck I hope it's broken.'_ Then turning around she decided that with everything she wasn't going to wait for Lucian after all.

* * *

Lucian couldn't believe it she wasn't there, he had told her to wait for him. And not only that, one of the girls was crying to their parents about having been punched in the face. No doubt Katherine had something to do with that. Oh she was going to get an earful when he got home. He jogged down the road to the place he had been living for two years just cursing this day, Katherine getting into fights, a social worker coming over, and to top it off he got laid off because of financial cut backs. This just wasn't his day.

He climbed the stairs of the stone build taking two a time. When he had gotten to the apartment door he inserted the key into the lock and pushed. Nothing happened. It was like something was barricading the door shut. Lucian could her music blaring behind the door so he knew that Katherine was in there.

Banging on the door he called out her name, "Kit, Open the door!" The only response was the music getting turned up louder.

_(You make me so lonely, baby. I'm feeling so lonely. I'm feeling so lonely, I could die.)_

"Katherine!"

"Leave me alone to die," came her response over the music.

_(Well, the bellhop's tears are flowing and desk clerk's dressed in black. Well, they've been so long on lonely street they ain't ever gonna look back. You make me so lonely, baby. You make me so lonely. You make me so lonely, I could die.)_

Lucian groaned pressing his forehead to the metal door letting the coolness soothe his oncoming headache. "Katherine, open the door right now! We don't have time for this the social worker will be hear any minute," he ordered yelling over the song. No response. ' _Okay that's it,'_ he said inwardly. "I swear when I get in there," Lucian began ramming his shoulder into the door, "I'm going to shove you into the blender. Press puree. Then I'm going to bake you into a pie and feed you to the social worker. And when she says, 'Mmm. This is great what your secret?' I'm going to say—"

"Love and kindness," he ended just realizing that said social worker was standing right behind him. She was a thin woman with glasses and snobby demeanor. And she was giving him a look of disapproval.

"Is it safe to assume that you are Mr. Solvensky?" She asked clearly not impressed by the display.

He winced inwardly before responding, "Yes. Ma'am, I'm Lucian Solvensky," he informed holding out his hand. She took it uninterestedly and shook it.

"Are you going to invite me inside or are we going to do this inspection from the front door?" She drawled.

"Oh, of course," he hurriedly replied, but then glanced at the door worriedly. "Umm wait here one sec," he told her before slipping down the stairs. He ran outside, down the alley, and up the fire escape. Entering though a window into the bathroom he landed softly on the tile floor. Katherine was lying on the couch with her eyes closed so she didn't see him enter the living room.

Lucian looked around the small room at the colossal mess. Papers were on the floor, so were clothes, and… _nails?_ He let out a groan when seeing that Katherine had nailed the front door shut. Immediately he remembered who was waiting outside said door and ripped the cord of the stereo from the wall; Katherine gave her disapproval with a groan at the loss of music. Then walking across the room he pried he nails from the doorframe with a hammer in about 15 seconds.

When the door swung open Lucian was slightly out of breath and holding a hammer. The social worker raised an eyebrow at the scene but otherwise didn't comment. He stepped aside to let the woman in and she was very surprised at what she saw.

It didn't escape her notice that here were nails scattered on the floor. The girl that she had come to see was drawing something or other and seemed not to care of the woman's presence. "Do you often leave her alone?" The social worker asked as Lucian led her into the kitchen.

"No not at all," he answered, "I just had to run to the store for a couple of minutes." The woman hummed writing something down on her pad, Lucian glanced around the room seeing a drawing of Katherine's on the fridge a stick figure of her with the words, 'Me Alone.' His eyes widened and he stealthily tore it from the fridge throwing it in the rubbish bin.

"You left the stove on," she pointed out judgmental. Lucian panicked he rushed to the stove and turned off the dials. He knew that he didn't turn the stove on, again definitely Katherine.

"I found that this morning," a small bored voice commented. Katherine stood behind the two adults staring at the stove with disinterest. When the social worker turned around Lucian glared at the child narrowing his eyes. He watched as the social worker kneeled down and gave Katherine a small friendly smile greeting her.

Katherine only stared at the woman not in the mood to really smile today. "How do you like living here?" She inquired, kindly. The child's eyes found Lucian's. He gave her a look that said, 'stay to the script say anything else and you're dead.'

She opened her mouth hesitating for a moment; thinking about it. Then she launched into a long monolog, "I like it here. I eat three meals a day with all my food groups. Take naps and go to bed early. I'm learning Portuguese okay, I guess. It's a little difficult and a lot of times I mess up and say the wrong thing, but Luke says that I'll get better at it with practice." Lucian let out a sigh of relief, that she didn't say anything that could be found at fault.

The social worker smiled at the little girl, finding her incredibly adorable. Those doe olive green eyes and the pretty golden brown wavy hair made her just like a little doll. She stood up to her full height and watched as Katherine walked into the other room. "I'm going to be straight with you Mr. Solvensky. I'm the person they call when things go wrong," she told Lucian with a level stare. The woman glanced around the apartment the dirty dishes, burnt pots, messy living room, "And things have indeed gone wrong."

Lucian followed her into the living room and watched as she studied Katherine drawing, with a black crayon, a strange symbol out of a book labeled, 'Practical Voodoo.' She placed a strand of hair into the paper and folded it up then stuck it into a jar of vinegar. Katherine turned to the social worker and said in a very calm bored voice, "My friend needs to be punished." He was seething; glaring at the girl even more if that was possible.

"Well I think I've seen enough," the woman announced heading for the door. She clicked her pen clipping it on to her pad, "Oh Mr. Solvensky if you're wondering how this meeting went, it wasn't good." The door closed behind her and Lucian listened as she walked down the stairs. Neither of the two moved until the woman was out of ear shot.

When Lucian turned around the look on his face was one of pure rage and Katherine screamed in terror running away from him as fast as her feet could carry her. He ran after catching her in a tight embrace cutting off her scream. Then the little girl bit him causing him to let go. "Katherine!" He yelled exasperated as she slipped from his grasp. Lucian stood up quickly again and ran after her back into the living room, he stopped seeing no one there.

Calmly he took a deep breath to compose himself. Then he walked over to the couch and picked up a blanket lying it down on the floor next to a large old trunk. He opened the front door and slammed it closed waiting patiently by the wall. After a few minutes the lid flipped open and Katherine crawled out carefully stepping onto the blanket. However before she could blink Lucian had grabbed all four corners using it a net and slinging the girl over his shoulder.

Katherine hissed, kicked, and clawed at the blanket trying to break through. He set the bundle down and she tried to escape again, but he quickly grabbed her wrist to prevent her from doing so. "Why didn't you wait at the school?! You were supposed to wait there!" he demanded. Katherine ignored him though trying to weasel herself from his iron grip tears coming to her eyes. "Katherine," he raised his voice, "Do you not understand? Do you want to be taken away?" No retort. "Answer me," he barked.

"No!"

"No, what?" He asked.

"No!"

"No, you don't understand?" He questioned.

"No. Noooo," Katherine said before breaking out into sobs and crumbling to the floor in a heap. She mumbled something inaudible to him as he tried to listen to what she was saying.

Giving up he dropped her wrist and put his head in his hands. "You're such a pain," he huffed.

Katherine sat up drying her tears with the back of her hand and stared at him coldly. "Then why don't you sell me and by a donkey instead!" She shouted spitefully.

"At least the donkey would behave better than you!"

"Good you'll like it. It'll probably be smarter than me too," she spit back stomping away from him angrily.

"And quieter!"

Katherine opened the door to her room glaring at him evenly before shouting, "Great. You'll be happy because it'll be Ass just like you!" She slammed the door.

Lucian was filled with so much anger that a six year old had bested him in an argument. "Go to you room!" He bellowed.

"I'm already in my room!" She screamed back opening the door and slamming it closed again for effect. Katherine turned around and grabbed one of her pillows and holding it up to her face screaming into it. Then she fell back on her bed and let the tears pool from her eyes.

* * *

Lucian stared at to where the girl had disappeared to the heat of the fight now over only to be replaced with guilt. ' _I shouldn't have yelled at her like that,'_ he sighed dejected. She had apparently also had a horrible day; it wasn't like he didn't notice the band aid on her knee. He assumed that it had something to do with that girl getting whacked in the face. Also she only really listens to Elvis like that when she's upset.

Figuring that right now she wanted to be alone, Lucian started to clean up the apartment. Carefully picking up the nails and placing them into a bucket and stacking all the papers together. After the Living room was cleaned he started on the dishes and burnt pots, scrubbing; hoping to get out the stains, but it seemed like a useless cause. He chucked the pot in the trash with a sigh then dried his hands on a dishtowel.

Lucain knocked on the girl's door pushing it open. Katherine was sitting on the window seat facing out towards the window. She was unlike her usual happy self, completely somber. "Hey," he said altering her to his presence, "can I come in?"

Katherine saw him standing the doorway through the reflection. She shrugged her tiny shoulders, "I don't pay the rent," she responded.

He let out a small chuckle sitting on her bed, "Come here." Lucian watched as she slipped from the window seat and crawled onto the bed to sit in his lap. He brushed his fingers through her hair as she snuggled into his chest. "I'm sorry," he told her.

"It's okay," she mumbled, "It was both our faults."

Lucian smiled sadly at the small child in his arms. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong?" He brushed his fingers on her scalp comfortingly.

"We're a broken family, aren't we?" Katherine stated pitifully.

Lucian was unsure of how to respond to that. "No!" he protested. "Well maybe a little," he reconsidered though she gave him a look saying 'yeah right', "Okay maybe a lot." He glanced toward the door his mind going back to their argument. "I shouldn't have yelled at you," Lucian muttered apologetically.

"We're family it's our job," Katherine voiced tiredly. They stared at each other in understanding. "Although I like you better when you don't yell," she informed him plainly," and you like me better than a donkey right?" Tears seeped into her olive eyes at the last part.

"Oh, of course I do," he reassured her hugging her gently.

Katherine looked away from him staring out the window. "I punched Carilena Barros today," she told him.

"You punched her?"

"And most likely broke her nose," she added with a shrug.

Lucian was flabbergasted, "Why would you do that?"

She shook her head trying not to cry. "She said that mom and dad abandoned me," Lucian's heart wrenched a little at her words. "They didn't abandon me. They didn't Luke," she said urgently staring him in the eye clutching his shirt. It was like she was struggling to convince herself of that fact.

"Kit," he started seriously, "Your parents loved you very much. You were their entire world they never would have left you on their own free will."

"Really?" She sniffed.

"Yes," he expressed firmly. Katherine gave him a little smile in thanks. "I'll tell you what," Lucian started a playful tone seeping into his voice, "If you promise not to get into any more fights, I promise not to yell at you. Except for maybe special occasions."

Katherine's smile grew a little wider, "Wednesdays and Martin Luther King Day would be good."

"Really?" he chuckled tickling her, "Would that be good?"

She giggled squirming in his arms. "Yes. Yes," she laughed with a squeal, "now stop it." Katherine had a full blown smile on her face now her problems forgotten.

Suddenly a flicker of light illuminated their faces from the window. Katherine promptly detached herself from Lucian and scurried to the window. She watched in awe as orb of light fell from the sky and disappeared over the horizon. A firefly flashing for a second before disappearing then reappearing somewhere else. "A shooting star," she cried joyfully, "I call it." He chuckled from his perch on the bed.

Katherine abruptly turned around pulling Lucian from the bed, "Get out Luke. Come on get out I have to make a wish."

Lucian reluctantly stood from the bed stretching his arms over his head lazily. Katherine huffed frustrated that he was taking so long giving him a shove towards the door. He decided to tease her just a little bit slowing his pace to that of a sloth. The little girl groaned pushing against him with all her might her feet scrapping against the floor. "Are you sure you want me to go?" he asked faking hurt; "I could always stay and talk about how proud I am that you socked that girl in the face." She complained again as Lucian got to the door way.

"Move it!" she cried indignant, "Can't you go any faster!"

"Oh no," he responded, "Gravity is increasing on me." Lucian sunk closer to the ground putting more of his weight on Katherine.

"No, it's not!"

"Yes it is, Kit," Lucian told her seriously, "the same thing happened last week. Remember?" He let all his weight fall on the girl squashing her to the floor. He laid there dramatically as she squirmed out from underneath him.

"You're crushing me," she protested pulling her leg out from under his back. Lucian peaked through one of his eyes as she glared down at him moving to her door. "You're so weird," she declared shooting him a questioning glace before slamming the door into his head.

* * *

Lucian hissed in pain. She had hit him pretty hard with the door. Although even while he was in pain he was happy that they weren't fighting anymore. However was still going to have to deal with that social worker and find another job. ' _Just makes life interesting,'_ he told himself.

He wondered what Katherine was saying in her room and nudged the door open a little peering through it. There she was kneeling on the window seat her hands folded together and her head bowed as if she was praying. Her voice was so quiet and soft that he could barely make out what she was saying.

"It's me again," she began. "I know you hear from me a lot. But the one thing I want more than anything else is my parents. I miss them so, so, much. Though I don't expect you to work miracles, so if you can't bring them back—"she prayed staring out into the night sky. Her voice broke a little as she held back a tiny sob. "Then please send me a friend. Someone who won't run away, or leave. Maybe send an angel," she suggested helpfully, "the nicest angel you have."

He closed the door softly shaking his head. ' _Poor kid. She's too sweet to have to go through this.'_ It wasn't right that she had to grow up without her parents. It wasn't right that she didn't have any friends. And it most certainly was right that she would often cry herself to sleep at night when she thought he wasn't listening. Lucian vowed that no matter what he was going to make sure that her wish came true; one way or another because she deserved much more than the shitty hand that life gave her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song List:  
> Elvis Presley - Heartbreak Hotel


	6. St. Chocolatey's Day

**I Don't Date Vampires**  
Chapter 4  
****_"St. Chocolatey's Day"_

* * *

"Huh. That's this week."

Aidou glanced up from the book he was reading, "What's this week?"

Katherine paused in the CD's she was sorting through to look at Aidou. He was sitting on a stack of empty milk crates reading while Katherine was helping Ayame do inventory again. She had been telling him about different bands that he would enjoy, but he just brushed it off only really listening halfway. Then something occurred to the girl causing her to tune out and change subjects. "Valentine's Day," she mumbled absent mindedly in response.

Aidou hummed in thought. "I guess it is," he realized.

"How does that work here?"

He stared at her questioningly, his right eye brow raised in a perfect arc. Katherine wanted to giggle at his expression; there were many faces that he made that she found comical. This one was one of her favorites. "How does what work?" Aidou wondered not fully grasping what she was asking.

"Valentine's Day," she elaborated, "I mean I know in other countries couples give chocolate to each other and roses. Also hallmark cards are overpriced, and there is that God awful pink everywhere. But in Japan they do things differently don't they?"

Aidou sat his book down thinking about it. "Yeah they do do things differently here. Firstly only the girls give chocolates to the guys and confess their crushes," he explained.

"-Then on White Day the guys give gifts back." Katherine finished for him. Aidou nodded. "Would it be wrong to give chocolate so a person could blackmail people into giving them gifts on White Day?" She pondered out loud to herself; though it was phrased as a question she wasn't really asking his opinion.

He looked at her wearily, "Yes."

Katherine sighed disappointed, "Well I guess I can't do that then."

He stared at her thwarted expression like she was a child who was told they couldn't have desert until they finished their broccoli. Suddenly a small smile broke out onto her face informing Aidou that she wasn't being serious. After about two weeks he had started to pick up some things about her. One, she was almost always making some sarcastic remark, even if outwardly it didn't seem like one. Two, she wasn't exactly conventional; she would say off the wall things just to see a person's reaction. Three, Katherine was unceremoniously blunt about everything and surprisingly spoke her mind telling you exactly what she thought. These things about her weren't exactly big finds in Adiou's opinion; anyone could pick them up with just a couple conversations with her.

"I bet you get lots of chocolate on Valentine's Day." Katherine said almost mockingly to the boy. "In fact, I might come to see the night class that day just to see you get trampled," she snickered.

Aidou narrowed his blue eyes glaring at the girl, "Ha. Ha." She laughed again her face lighting up. It seemed that she was constantly laughing, smiling, or smirking at him. Admittedly he had gotten used to it; her teasing that is, usually the only ones that really teased him was Ichijou, Ruka, and Kain. When they did it he found it annoying, but when Katherine did it he really didn't mind all that much. Mostly because she could take it just as well as she could dish it out.

"Are you going to give anyone chocolates?" He asked her curiously. She gave him this 'bitch please' look and shook her head no.

"I've never given chocolates to anyone. My uncle and I we celebrate Valentines differently from most people," she informed him, "I mean it's not really that weird, but it is different."

"What do you two do?" Aidou wondered, interested.

Katherine picked up a CD reading the album cover as she answered, "Well every Valentine's Day we make ice cream sundaes, order a massive amount of junk food, and watch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. We then proceed to eat so much that we have a stomach ache the next day and are unable to move for at least three hours. Then after we're able to move and not throw up, we hit the stores and buy crap loads of all the discounted candy which we snack on through the rest of the year. But that's nothing compared to our Christmas traditions, those are like religious rituals. Like a cult type of religious rituals."

She smiled at the last part memories coming to surface. Memories of her and her uncle building snowmen, snowball fights in central park, locking a lock on the bridge and throwing the keys in the river, and baking in the various kitchens together. She really missed her uncle and the thought kind of sobered her. This was the first time since he had taken her in that they were ever apart.

Aidou chuckled at the mental picture forming in his mind. Katherine not being able to move because of over eating is a very silly picture. "What's so special about Christmas?" Her mouth tweaks up at the question shaking her head at the ridiculousness of the inquiry.

"Well besides the fact that it's the one day that a person can guilt-trip their loved ones into buying them things that they absolutely don't need, Christmas is by far the biggest holiday for us." Katherine expressed seriously, "It's the one time of year that we don't have to travel anywhere. I mean we go places, but for the entire month of December we don't leave a city. Last Christmas it was London, which is where I was before I came here, and the year before it was New York and the year before that was Paris."

"However if you want a breakdown of our traditions it's something like get a Christmas tree, bake apple pie inside actual apples, build a snowman with a top hat, mustache, and a monocle, buy presents, make popcorn wreathes, hang mistletoe from the ceiling fans, build a gingerbread house, and bake cookies for Santa's reindeer. Which never make it never make it to Santa's reindeer because we eat them," she listed off on her fingers.

Aidou stared at the girl processing everything she just said. "Wow. There are so many things that need to be addressed in that list," he laughed, "but why do you hang mistletoe from ceiling fans?"

Katherine giggled her olive eyes lighting up with mirth, "Because it's more of a challenge." Aidou couldn't help bursting into laughter at her answer and she soon joined him. The two laughed together for a few minutes their laughter drowning out the music that was always playing through the speakers. When they finally composed themselves, Katherine wiped a tear from her eye. "What about you. Any crazy family traditions?" She mused a smile still firmly on her face.

"No, not like those," Aidou remarked. His home life was very different from how Katherine's sounded. For one it wasn't all happy memories, or crazy adventures. There was pressure, tremendous pressure, placed on him by his parents. Being an Aristocratic Vampire had its down falls, one of them being that your family expected much more from you than your average family did. They wanted you to be the best at everything, taking almost complete control of your life and not being able to really make any decision for your own. However he couldn't tell Katherine any of this, she wouldn't understand.

"Our traditions are pretty normal." he began choosing his words carefully, "We have presents, eat a fancy dinner, the servants decorate the tree and the house with everything Christmas-y. Even birthdays aren't really that big of a deal, my parents always celebrated my birthday with presents and the cook would make some fancy flambé with alcohol. I've always wanted a typical yellow cake now that I think about."

Katherine listened intently to what the blond was saying. The way Aidou talked about his family was in a way disheartening, she couldn't really relate to the pressure that he must feel. Not that she didn't have pressure with Lucian, but when you're pretty much orphaned that greatly lessens the pressure. However she also felt like he wasn't telling her the whole story, nonetheless she wasn't going to force him to either. It's his business.

"I'll make a mental note of that," she commented with a warm smile.

They both stared at each other for a second. Green meeting blue. Aidou knew that she didn't really get it, yet her eyes showed understanding. At least the closest she could get to it. The serious moment broke quickly enough when Katherine launched into another cheerful story about her childhood distracting both of them from their problems.

* * *

"KYAAAA!"

Aidou shifted under the warm duvet tugging the pillow over his head trying to block out the sound. He groaned annoyed and opened his eyes glaring hatefully at the dark drapes. They were parted slightly and the early morning sunshine flowed into the room that he shared with his cousin, Kain.

The room was extravagant compared to the Sun Dormitory. Unlike Katherine's room this one was decked out in classic Victorian style and just screamed wealth. Two crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling the light from the parted drapes creating a prism effect with the crystals. One of those couches was placed by one of the walls, the type of couch that looks nice but is stone hard to actually sit on. There were two beds one on each side of the room, each had soft fluffy down duvets and sheets of Egyptian cotton. Though as extravagant as this room was there was also something laughable about it.

There was a clear barrier in the room, an invisible line separating Kain's side from Aidou's side. One side was perfectly organized, vacuumed, dust free. Everything had its place. The other side was in complete havoc. The floor littered with clothes, papers, and boxes filled with… well a bunch of useless junk. Bent spoons, broken picture frames, chipped tea cups, and shattered glass filled these boxes along with a lot of other crap (That I won't go into right now because whose got the time and Aidou needs to get rid of all that). It's easy to tell which side belongs to whom.

Kain sat up in bed, having been awoken by the excessive noise coming from outside the dormitory. He stood up stretching out his muscles and peaked through the curtain. The light shown through even more blinding Aidou and he hissed in annoyance. "Give me a break," he whined burying his face deeper under the pillow, "I was fast asleep."

The blond sat up groggily running his fingers through his hair. "What do those damn day class girls want?" He mumbled glaring back at the window.

His cousin ignored his comment more focused on what was happening outside. At first glance he was surprised and opened the curtains even more to get a better look. Aidou retreated under his covers, "Akatsuki, the light!" Kain paid him no mind though.

Outside was chaos; the day class students crowding towards the front gates trying to push through, some even attempting to climb the wall. Yuuki was standing on top of the wall yelling at the girls to stop and return to their dorms. They completely ignored her however, just getting more and more crazy. One girl, a sandy blonde with glasses, was getting close to climbing over the wall. Kain could make out her face before it disappeared telling him that she had fallen.

Yuuki blew her whistle cheering, "Way to go Zero. Nice catch!"

"Oh that's right," Kain muttered something just occurring to him, "it's today."

"What is?" Aidou hissed still cowering away from the sun under his blankets.

The tall strawberry-blonde smirked at his cousin amused as he responded, "It's the day that girls give out chocolate and confess to their crushes… Valentine's Day."

"Once again you've chosen to start Valentine's Day as the enemy to woman kind," Yuuki sighed placing her hand on Zero's shoulder. She couldn't wrap her mind around why he insisted on being so mean to the day class girls, constantly quenching any chance he had getting a girlfriend. "You do realize that you squashed any hope of getting chocolates this year," she told the sliver haired boy shaking her head.

Zero turned his gaze to the brunette standing next to him. His liquid gray eyes scanned over her face before he scoffed. "What else should I have said?" He demanded a little harsher than he meant to. Yuuki only stared at him a loss for words unsure of how to respond. "After all it's my duty as a perfect to keep the day class students from finding out what the night class really is," he added glaring at the building where he could see one of those blood suckers peering through the window.

Kain yawned letting the drapes slide close now that all the excitement had died down, "It'll be fun when the sun goes down. I'm going back to bed." Aidou had already laid back down burying his noise into the sheets taking in the lavender scent humming pleasantly. His cousin glanced at him wearily for a second then plopped down on his own mattress wrapping himself up in the duvet. The last thing he remembered before losing consciousness was Aidou mumbling something like, "Chocolate is pretty good, but I still like blood better for desert."

* * *

"What I missed it?" Katherine whined, disappointed. Yuuki was just replaying the scene to her and Yori about the mob of day class students she had to fight off that morning. The girl was pretty let down that she didn't get to see that, cursing the fact that she was asleep at that time.

"Those day class girls are getting more and more out of control it seems," Yori commented.

Yuuki nodded, "I know. One of the girls actually tried to climb over the wall, using the others as a human ladder. Thank God, Zero caught her when she fell."

"Man I got to wake up earlier," she reprimanded herself. There was a squeal from the front of the class distracting the girls from their current conversation. Katherine looked at the three girls gossiping to each other about the chocolates they were going to give to the night class students; it all seem frivolous to her.

"Everyone's really excited aren't they?" Yori observed resting her chin in her hands.

"Well today is Valentine's Day it only comes once a year," Yuuki added.

"Valentine's Day," a boy sighed wistfully behind them. The three girls turned around and stared at the class rep, Kasumi Kageyama. "When girls give the guys they like chocolate and confess their undying love. How foolish, it's extremely foolish. I hate this holiday," he muttered spitefully.

Yori regarded him with disinterest, "Even though you might get chocolates too." The boy froze at that remark his mind fading off into a delusional day dream. Ruka stood before him holding a large pink heart-shaped chocolate box with a chocolate brown ribbon. In his fantasy she confessed her feelings saying something along the lines of, " _Please accept this chocolate along with my heart,_ " though actual Ruka would never say something so moronic.

"Is he okay," Katherine asked concerned, "he's kind of freaking me out?" Yori let out a small laugh at her comment and Yuuki smiled.

The boy was off in another world. He was zombie blinded by the naive notion of a crush. Katherine having enough of him tuning out poked him in the ribs, "Oy. Earth to Kasumi." Kageyama snapped out of whatever trance he was in and looked at the girls.

"Nani?"

"You were drooling," Katherine pointed out.

Kageyama wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "Oh, right. Arigatou," he said somewhat passive aggressively.

"No problem," she said watching as he walked away from them.

"Okay, correct me if I'm wrong," Yori started, "but the Class rep. seemed a little hostile towards you Katherine."

Yuuki nodded in agreement, "Yeah I noticed it to."

Katherine chuckled shaking her head. It was true that Kageyama didn't like Katherine. He was threatened by her and when she passed him on the top students' list a few days earlier, he basically vowed to destroy her. "Umm… Yeah he's still a little sore," she explained with a wince remembering their conversation when he found out, "I knocked him out of the number one student spot a couple days ago. He didn't take it very well."

"Wow, really?" Yuuki jumped up from her seat. "Why didn't you tell us? That's big! I could never hope to get on that list," she rambled excitedly.

"It is a great achievement," Yori added.

"Guys stop it I'm blushing a deep shade of red," Katherine said sarcastically. She was in fact not blushing in the slightest, but their compliments were making her a little uncomfortable.

Yuuki smiled, "You're too humble for you own good, Kat. Although while I would like to stay and keep teasing you about this, Zero and I have to go talk to the headmaster. I'll try to catch you two before curfew, okay." She grabbed Zero who was sitting behind them and swiftly dragged him from the room. Katherine and Yori watched them go taking enjoyment in Zero's irritated expression.

* * *

"I'm aware that today is Valentine's Day and also that the school is buzzing with excitement," Headmaster Kurosu began, "but there is also increased danger that the day class will figure out the night class's true identity. For that reason I expect you two to be extra vigilant today; you are the school Guardians after all."

Zero rolled his eyes, "Then why don't we just cancel this thing altogether?"

While Zero's suggestion was reasonable, it wasn't possible. Canceling this event would lead to even more havoc, creating riots from the day class girls. And no offence to them or anything, but even Kaien Kurosu was a little intimidated by those girls. Especially when they're in giant hoards like they were this morning. "Unfortunately that isn't an option. It would just cause a riot and it's good to give the students and outlet," the Headmaster explained, "besides I can't keep my sweet vampires away from their adoring fans. They're such precious, adorable, creatures that I can't on good conscience make them upset by canceling Valentine's Day for them."

Yuuki glanced back and forth between Zero and the Headmaster anxiously. Zero had this incredibly dark aura seeping out of him, while the Headmaster was talking about the night class. And the Headmaster had this incredibly pleasant aura emitting from him. The two moods were clashing with each other furiously, two snarling dogs fighting over a scrap of meat. "Don't praise that vermin scum to my face," she whispered in warning to the Headmaster, "is what Zero is thinking." Kaien regarded Yuuki's comment with weary eyes, ' _Fine I'll be quiet_.'

"I know that vampires have been enemies of humans for several centuries, nonetheless there are still some vampires who wish to coexist with us peacefully," the Headmaster stood from his chair facing out the window; his fur coat swished at the movement, "It's important to teach them to have pride in taking the first steps to building the bridge over the divide between our two races. And Kiriyuu, even though you may think that impossible… Someday I hope that you will understand that."

"You can't erase the past," the boy grumbled.

"Do you only believe that because they are beasts in human form that drink blood or is it because of your own experiences?"

'That did nothing to help,' she panicked. The room was getting more and more hostile by the second and Yuuki sensed a major argument about to break out. In a futile last hope to diffuse the situation she climbed on the desk and kneeled, "Here you go Headma—Dad. Happy Valentine's day." The Headmaster turned around to look at his adoptive daughter. Seeing her offering a gift, he took it, '20 coupons for Yuuki's shoulder massages'. "Here's one for you too, Zero," Yuuki tossed a paper to the boy standing behind her.

The two males reaction we diversely different from each other. The Headmaster squealed in joy practically praising the ground that Yuuki walked on, whereas Zero just complained. "One slave coupon," he read jadedly. "You do realize you've given us the same thing since elementary school?" he added.

"So sue me," she snapped, "just be glad I gave you anything at all. You ungrateful jerk." Yuuki turned around and sighed at the Headmaster still doing a happy dance, "Headmaster we're going." Then grabbing Zero she dragged him from the office and down the hall.

* * *

Katherine walked silently down the corridor heading toward one of the clubrooms. She decided that she would check out the newspaper club, since orchestra was already filled. The Headmaster told her that she needed to have some more extracurricular activities otherwise it would start docking on her grade. It was asinine really; just because she wasn't in a club it was going to hurt her grade point average.

In the student handbook, which she skimmed through on the plane, it stated that all students were required to join at least two clubs. Since she came later in the year a lot of those clubs were filled. The Headmaster had made and exception for her because of it, but now that the new semester drop period had started he said, "There is no excuse for a young lady like you to not find something you would enjoy." Katherine scoffed in her mind. It was true that there shouldn't be a problem joining a club, yet all the clubs that she wanted to join were filled.

She didn't even really want to join the newspaper club. Yeah most people would think that because she grew up with a journalist, she would love it. But no, she did not love it. She loved the travel, she loved the cultures and the experiences, but she did not enjoy the writing. However this was not to say that she couldn't write; she could. Katherine was essentially an incredible writer, it was kind of a given for her circumstances, still it was not what she loved.

When approaching the large, thick wooden door Katherine had a brief moment of doubt. ' _Maybe I should just turn around_ ,' she considered hesitating, ' _No Katherine, you are better than this. You have a backbone… now use it.'_ Mustering up her confidence he pushed the door open and walked into the room.

The room had individual desks, like tiny cubicles in a real newspaper office. A large counter toward one of the wall was where they did layout, and there was a blackout room for developing pictures. Several computers sat on top of these desks each one of the newest version of windows seven. There were a few students there using their lunch break to work on pieces and Katherine recognized a two in particular.

"Katherine?" Hiyoki called enthusiastically turning around. She ran to the door, "what are you doing here?'

"Umm… I heard that there were some openings and that this club was in need of writers," Katherine answered impassively.

"Oh you're going to join the paper? That's so cool," she jumped up and down excitedly, "Hey Natsume." The other girl glanced up at her name, "Go get the editor, tell him we got a recruit." Natsume noticed Katherine standing in the doorway and smiled at her before disappearing into an office type room that Katherine had just noted. "This is going to be so much fun," Hiyoki squealed eagerly, "we don't get a lot of writers here. Mostly because we have to work weird hours and on the weekends. Not all weekends though—" she added fearing that she was just scaring Katherine off.

"I didn't know that you could write though," she commented more to herself, "but that doesn't really matter. I'm sure you're going to like it here."

The two were interrupted from their conversation, if you could call Hiyoki squealing about how much fun it would be to be on the paper together a conversation, when the editor walked up. At Cross Academy there was a student editor and a teacher editor. The teacher editor had final say in what goes, but the student editor was more like the senator to the president (teacher editor). "I regret to inform you Miss Taylor, but there are no open positions for you,"Kageyama stated coolly.

' _Oh shit,_ ' Katherine remarked to herself. She was unaware that Kageyama was the student editor, he hated her. 'Well this was definitely a dead-end,' she sighed inwardly. "Oh okay," she shrugged not greatly affected by it, "Thank you for your time. I guess I'll just go check with the German club. I heard a lot of them left after seeing Schindler's List." Turning on her heels she started to head for the door.

"Class Rep," Natsume warned watching Katherine walk away from them, "we need writers. Why are you turning her away? It's just Me, Hiyoki, you, and Nadeshiko Shino we need more writers."

As much as he hated to admit it Natsume was right. They did need more writers, but Katherine Taylor? Kageyama just couldn't have her in the same club as him. She had already taken the top student spot from him, how long until she rips the editor position from him too? And if that happens, what's going to stop her from becoming class rep? That was who he was, people called him class rep. instead of his actual name so much that he often felt like they didn't even know what it was. If she took that from him he would just be Kasumi Kageyama, a nobody, just a number in a fancy Japanese boarding school of one of the guys that didn't get acknowledge because of the night class. But they needed writers… "Wait," he called out causing Katherine to pause and stare questioningly, "I suppose we could find a place for you." He said the last part through gritted teeth.

Katherine was actually surprised that he agreed. She could tell that he didn't want to let her join. "I'm not sure," she started. Katherine didn't want to be in a place where she wasn't wanted.

"I insist," he said seriously. The girl still seemed a little unsure, her olive eyes darting to the door debating whether or not to leave. 'She can't seriously make me beg her to stay here,' he groans incredulously. "Katherine, don't make me beg," Kageyama stated in a somewhat desperate voice.

"Okay well I guess if you insist," Katherine said conceding. Funny how he didn't want her to be there, but when she walked away he pretty much begged her to be. 'Reverse phycology,' she snickered to herself amused.

* * *

*YAWN*

"Finally one more period after this," Yuuki sighed stretching her arms over her head. They had just finished their ethics lesson and she was tired of school. Not many of the students were actually really paying attention in class; no doubt Valentine's Day had something to do with that. The girls especially were gossiping to each other, flat out ignoring the teachers.

"Who are you giving yours too?"

"No way; I'm not telling."

"Don't you think this ribbon is so cute?"

Yori observed the girls with disinterest. She had never really gotten Valentine's Day; it was stupid in her opinion. More of an excuse for girls to confess their feelings that they wouldn't have the nerve to confess otherwise, if you like someone then you should just say it. Period. "Everyone's getting restless," she commented slipping her notes into her book bag.

"Are you giving chocolates to anyone, Yori?" Yuuki questioned snooping.

"I couldn't be bothered."

"Not even for the night class?" She wondered.

"No," Yori shook her head, "not even for the night class. Personally I always favored the day class anyways. What about you?"

Upon hearing this question Yuuki got awfully nervous. "What me? Pffftt. Please of course not," she lied. Yori stared at her strangely clearly not believing her.

"Then what's that?" She pointed to a green ribbon poking out of Yuuki's jacket pocket.

Knowing that she was busted, Yuuki sighed. "Okay, well the truth is that I had to buy it from a shop. When I tried to make it myself, it was an utter disaster," she conceded to Yori, "It's so humiliating no one else in class is that lame."

"So, who's it for? Obviously it not for the person glaring daggers into our backs," she stated plainly.

Zero's liquid gray eyes were burning holes into the two girls sitting in front of him. _'How could she possibly give that to him?_ ' He criticized skeptical. It wasn't really any of his business who Yuuki gave chocolates too, but the fact that she wanted to give them to that pureblood parasite really irked him. "You're a prefect for God sakes," he snapped standing from the desk, "are you really going to give them to him?!"

Yuuki jumped at the harshness of Zero's voice. He was always more aggressive when Kaname was involved but she had never seen him so specifically angry. It was almost as if… ' _No that's impossible. Zero is not jealous of Kaname,_ ' she shook that thought from her head. "Why would it matter to you?" She countered. He didn't have any right to get so possessive all the sudden and how dare he judge her.

Katherine watched the two as they glowered at each other. She had decided to stay out of this fight; it wasn't really anything that she had a clue about. It's not to say that it didn't worry her though. Zero had been her seatmate for over a month and in that time she had learned several things about him. The main thing being that despite his outward appearance he wasn't a bad guy. He was actually pretty nice when you got down to it and cared about people, especially Yuuki, very deeply. It shocked her to see him so visibly upset.

He hesitated at her question. It really shouldn't matter to him. He didn't have any say in what she did. Then why did he all the sudden get protective? There was no good answer to this question. "Do whatever you want Yuuki," he sighed resignedly, "I'm going to go to class." With that said Zero slid out of the seat and exited the classroom. Katherine watched him go, her olive eyes apprehensive.

She didn't really pay much attention to the conversation walking a little ways behind Yori and Yuuki. Katherine was still worried about Zero, in a way. _'Yuuki can be such an idiot sometimes,'_ she breathed shaking her head. It was obvious that he was upset about her giving chocolates to another boy, though there seemed to be something more to it, but she couldn't place her finger on what it was. That was basically the main issue nonetheless and Yuuki couldn't see it. _'Or maybe she did, but is just in denial. I've never thought her to be cruel though,'_ she considered to herself, ' _or maybe I'm just reading too much into everything._ '

"Katherine?" Yori stopped turning to look at the girl. She had her eyes to the floor and her eyebrows were scrunched together in thought. It was strange to see her with such a serious expression. "Katherine." She tried again poking her in the forehead. Her olive eye flashed up to stare, "If you keep thinking like that you're going to get wrinkles," Yori told her.

Katherine let out a small laugh at her comment, "Yeah I'm sorry Yori. I was kind of lost in my own head, it happens sometimes."

"Are you okay, Kat?" Yuuki asked concerned.

She gave Yuuki a reassuring smile, "Yeah, I just think I left my notes in my room. Umm… I'll catch up with you two okay." Yori and Yuuki gave each other a questioning glance as Katherine disappeared from sight. Neither was sure what had gotten into the girl, but Yori did have a growing suspicion that it had something to do with the spat between Zero and Yuuki.

* * *

Katherine jogged down the hallways silently. Truthfully she had lied to Yuuki and Yori about leaving her notes in her room, that wasn't the case they were in her back pack tucked between her Literature and History notes. But she was really too troubled to go to class and missing one class won't affect her too much, besides it was the end of the day and most of the students had already checked out mentally by now.

She rounded the corner and exited the building heading toward the stables. If she remembered correctly, from her tour with Yuuki, it was close to the millpond tucked in between the Headmaster's house and the Night dormitory. Katherine slowed to a stop when the old, brown barn came into view, she was sure this was where he had went. Her converse padded softly on the grass making minimal noise. Debating whether or not to turn around or check and make sure Zero was okay she stopped and stared in through the open door.

In reality they weren't even friends, the two just happened to sit at the same desk. Though Katherine didn't think that Zero hated her, she wasn't sure that he would want her company at a time like this. _'I can at least make sure that he is okay,_ ' she told herself. If he didn't want to her stay than she wouldn't, but it's always nice to have someone there who is actually willing to listen even if they don't want to talk.

Zero was lying down on a fluffy pile of hay eyes firmly closed, his jacket thrown off to the side next to him. Katherine stared at his sleeping form and silently crossed the distance between them sitting down at his side without a word. There was silence complete silence in the barn, the kind of silence you get when people just shut up and listen. Only the sounds of nature, leaves rustling, horses snorting, and the steady, calm breathing of the two figures sitting on the hay.

"What are you doing?" Zero questioned peeking through one of his eyes. Katherine was sitting next to him staring at her hands placed gently in her lap; her Golden waves cascaded down her shoulders shielding her face from his view.

Katherine numbly tucked her hair behind her ear and sighed. "What it looks like. Skipping class," she answered turning her olive eyes to Zero's. She was the picture of nonchalance closing her eyes letting the silence fall over her again, "am I not allowed to be here?"

There was an underlying message in her words that Zero picked up on. She was checking up on him, which was strange. Katherine had really no reason to be there, she had no reason check up on him, but she was doing it anyways. ' _Strange girl,_ ' he already knew that though. "Do whatever you want," he sighed closing his eyes again.

Katerine sat quietly for an hour next to Zero not saying a word. The silence gave her some reflection time for her own life. Memories flashing through her mind as if she was watching a movie. Scenes of child versions of her slowly growing up. She realized that despite everything, growing up without parents, she didn't have a terrible childhood. It was probably one to be envied by others; it took her awhile to realize this though. When she was little she didn't think anyone would want her life.

"It takes time for things to sink in," she mumbled absentmindedly, "sometimes more time for some than others." Zero glanced at her curiously when she said this. Sitting in utter stillness for a whole hour then she says that? Katherine had this faraway look on her face. It was like she didn't realize she had said that sentence out loud. Though in spite of this Zero found that her words actually made him feel better. Before he was just feeling angry and miserable, but when she said that he found that he now felt calm and maybe a little cheerful. It was amazing how she knew just what to say to certain people.

"Come on let's go," he ordered standing sliding his arms back into his jacket. Katherine looked up at him blankly before standing too and brushing the dirt off her skirt. She followed quietly behind keeping that silver hair in her line of sight as they walked to the Night dormitory. Judging from the loud squeals they could hear it was about time for the night class to make their appearance.

When they arrived at the Night dormitory, Katherine was downright overwhelmed at the sight that met her eyes. It was like every girl on campus showed up to this thing and in a school with about three-thousand students half of them being girls… well it's easy to picture the widespread chaos. They had riot control barriers set up creating a safe path for the night students, but some of the girls were trying to climb over them. "Holy Shit," she said in English forgetting that she was in the company of people who really only spoke Japanese, "This is the craziest… I don't even know what to say about this. It's like… I don't having anything to compare it too. My mind is completely blank. Shit."

Zero was staring at her in wonder. He hadn't heard her speak English before and Katherine was stuttering for words in it. Of course he really had no clue what she was saying, it could be anything. From what he could catch though, from his studying English, she was saying something about all the girls.

"Black Friday sales! That is the closest thing I have to compare it too. But not just Black Friday sales, it's Black Friday sales at David's Bridal with future brides and bridesmaids slaughtering each other over white—" Katherine trailed off just noticing Zero's confused expression, "dresses," she finished. "Umm… Gomien Zero," she apologized switching back to Japanese, "I forgot I was supposed to be speaking Japanese."

"It's okay," he told her still fascinated.

"It is always like this?" She wondered looking around. Katherine didn't even recognize half the faces there.

Zero shrugged, "More or less."

Katherine hummed, "Okay, well I'll let you do whatever it is you do. I'm just going to find a place to go where I won't get trampled." Zero nodded at her silently agreeing that it would be best. With that said she started working her way through the mob, pushing some of the girls aside saying the polite 'excuse me' and the not so polite 'coming through'. Finally she saw a place away from all the madness, a tall sakura tree rose from the mass of people, a small island in the open expanse of sea.

Katherine hoisted herself up on a branch easily enough climbing up a bit higher to see over the hordes of girls. She had the perfect view of everything from where she was sitting. The gate of the night dormitory clearly visible with nothing obstructing her view she should be able to observe in peace. She snuggled down onto the branches; they were really perfect, acting like Mother Nature's _Lazyboy_.

A loud chorus of screams erupted from the girls causing Katherine to cringe. ' _So much for observing in peace,_ ' she thought rolling her eyes.

* * *

Aidou waited impatiently for the gates to open twitching in excitement. Valentine's Day was his favorite unofficial holiday, especially at Cross Academy. The only thing that could make this day any better would be to get a sip of blood from the day class girls instead of chocolate, but since that wasn't possible he'd have to settle for his second favorite treat chocolate.

Kain walked up next to his cousin and yawned. "I'm still tired," he told Aidou.

"Really I'm wide awake," Aidou replied his cerulean eyes lighting up with anticipation. The gates creaked open causing another round of fan girl screams when they caught sight of the night class. "Wow," he said his eyes widening, "This year the girls are going into hysterics. It's awesome! This is so cool."

Shiki was less than thrilled about this though, unlike Aidou, "I've just stepped into my own personal hell." He stared at the crowd of students with a look of disdain and boredom.

Ichijou laughed placing a hand on the model's shoulder, "It's not so bad Senri. Stop being such a spoilsport."

"Okay! Welcome to the traditional Valentine's Day, 'who is the lucky winner of the day class girls' chocolate' line up race!" Yuuki stated facing the night class students. Zero stood behind her eyeing everything with disinterest. "The rules are simple," she explained, "All members of the night class are to walk to their individually assigned gates. Once in position, the girls will line up to give you their chocolates. Please stay calm and cooperate with each other."

"Understood? I would like to remind you all that this is not a game," she continued seeing Aidou shivering in excitement, "This means a lot to these girls so take it seriously."

Katherine burst out laughing seeing Aidou bolt towards the girls saying something like, "Hooray! They're mine, all mine!" The girls' screams grew louder calling him by his nickname 'Idol-sempai'. _'Aidou, Idol. How unoriginal,_ ' she chuckled to herself.

"Aidou," Kaname's voice halted the blonde mid-sprint, "remember to mind your manners. Understand?"

He turned around and faced the pureblood, "Of course Kaname-sama." Composing himself he strode calmly to his gate. The rest of the night class followed suite walking up to their respective gates.

* * *

Katherine watched with interest from her perch in the tree. She couldn't deny that the night class was unbelievingly pretty; she had never seen so many pretty people in one place like that before. They all had pale complexions, perfect figures, and an air of confidence about them that was very intimidating. The one thing she found interesting about them though wasn't how they looked, it was how they interacted with the day class. Like they were better, _'I guess I was right about them being pompous bastards.'_ Even Aidou was acting remarkably different from that awkward boy who would hang out with her in the bookstore, feeding all the girls lines making them swoon. _'A regular Tamaki Suhou,_ ' she observed.

"Umm… Please accept this Kaname-sempai."

Kaname stopped seeing one of the girls holding out chocolates to him. He was just intending on walking by, but he figured that a few couldn't hurt. "Arigatou," he took the small box from the girl's hands. Taking that chocolate box immediately opened up the floodgates to the other girls and in a matter of minutes his hand were filled, "Gomien, I'm afraid I can't hold anymore."

"Oh that's okay," they chorused.

He smiled graciously at them before walking away stopping briefly to talk to Yuuki. "Thank you for everything Yuuki. Don't get hurt," he told her.

"I-I won't," she replied. _'I missed my chance,'_ Yuuki thought dolefully. While she wasn't paying attention the group of girls she was holding back burst forward and knocked her down. If she had a 100 yen for how many times that had happened she'd be a millionaire by now. When she fell the chocolate box slipped from her jacket pocket clattering on the cobblestone pathway.

Zero sighed and picked it up. "Kuran," he called tossing the box through the air. The pureblood turned around and caught it gracefully, "You dropped that." Meanwhile Yuuki was frantically searching her pockets panicking when the chocolate wasn't there. ' _Did it get kicked somewhere?_ ' she wondered glancing around worried looking for the familiar green ribbon.

Kaname glanced down at the small box in his hands. Yuuki's scent was wafting from the green ribbon, and he had to fight a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "I accept it," he said, "thank you, Yuuki."

"A-n-no problem," she said hurriedly. As soon as Kaname was out of sight Yuuki swiveled on her heals and punched Zero in the stomach. "How dare you just give it to Kaname like that? Ugh, I could kill you right now, just strangle you with my bare hands!" She yelled ferociously, pounding Zero over and over.

"You were going to wimp out. I saw you," he retorted dodging punches. Yuuki directed one more punch to his face, which Zero caught at the last second. She attempted to pull her hand from his grasp, but held it firmly in place. "I'll let you go if you stop hitting me," he told her. The brunette reluctantly agreed with a nod of her head and Zero released her fist.

"He probably didn't really want it anyways," Yuuki muttered watching to where Kaname had disappeared, "He belongs with the night class and I can only ever really catch a glimpse of what it must be like, the things that he sees. He's so different from me."

Zero groaned internally at the girl by his side. ' _When will she realize that Kaname is just like the rest of them? Of course it would never work,_ ' he sighed irritated. A sudden breeze blew through the area, rustling Yuuki's hair. Zero got a sudden whiff of her scent causing his throat to go dry and his mouth to salivate. He swallowed thickly, ' _This cannot be happening now._ ' Quickly and silently he slipped away from the crowds of people getting as far away from the beating hearts as possible, retreating to the barn.

He leaned against the wooden wall clutching at his throat. The hunger was getting worse and as much as he hated to admit it he wouldn't be able to resist much longer. A snapping of a twig alerted Zero to someone else's presence. "I know you're there," he called out to the girl hiding behind a tree.

The girl came out from behind the tree nervously. Zero recognized her from that morning he had caught her when she fell, her name was Shino something. "Umm… Ki-i-ri-i-yu-u-u," she stuttered timidly, "I wanted to thank you for sa-aving me this mor-rning. And since you're supposed to thank people with chocolates, I'd thought I gi-i-ve you th-i-is." Shino held up a small blue box tied with a black and white ribbon, "I made it myself."

"Go away," he said harsher than he meant to.

The girl jumped, "But, I."

"Just forget about it," he hissed.

She still seemed hesitant to leave. "Are you ok—?"

Zero slammed his fist into the wood, "Leave now," he growled. He glared at the girl causing her to panic dropping the chocolate box on the grass.

"Gomien," she said bowing politely than turning and fleeing from the scene. Zero's eyes stared at the abandoned chocolate box and sighed. Leaning down he picked it up, studying it for a second then slipping it into his pocket.

* * *

Katherine sat patiently in the tree waiting for the crowds to clear. Her feet swung back and forth idly as she stared of into the distance. "What are you doing up there?" A familiar called from below. Katherine snapped out of whatever trance she was in and glanced down seeing Aidou standing beneath her peering up curiously.

"Avoiding the fray," she answered, "What are you doing down there?"

"Talking to you," he replied.

Katherine chuckled at his statement a small smile on her face. "Well that's pretty obvious," she remarked. She stared at him taking in his appearance. The white night class uniform complimented him nicely making his eyes seem bluer if that was possible. His arms were filled with boxes of chocolate from his adoring fans, "Are those for me?" She inquired innocently gesturing to the chocolate.

"As if!" He scoffed. Aidou knew she was just teasing him, Katherine's funny little way of showing she cares. This was the first time they had run into each other on campus; it was a little weird, but not bad. He hadn't seen her in a skirt before and was pleasantly surprised that she had long dancer's legs. "I didn't expect you to show up here," Aidou commented.

"Well the way you described the fan girls was interesting I wanted to see for myself," Katherine shrugged apathetically.

"And."

"You held back a lot," she finished tucking her hair behind her ear.

Aidou laughed, "Yeah, well, there is really no way to describe this," he motioned to the area around them.

"Agreed," Katherine nodded, "Now move I'm going to get down, unless you want me to land on you." Aidou took a couple steps back to allow her to climb down from the tree. The girl landed gracefully on the grass, brushing some dirt off her uniform.

"You climb trees often?" He questioned teasingly.

Katherine took one of the chocolates from his arms twirling it in her hands, "Not as often as I would like." She untied the velvet ribbon and popped one of the candies into her mouth, the sweet bitter taste spreading across her tongue. It was actually quite good. She wondered who made this; maybe she could track them down and get the recipe.

Aidou protested,"Hey, I thought I said I wasn't giving you any."

She stared at him blankly, her olive eyes lighting up with amusement. "You didn't give me any. I took one," Katherine said matter-of-factly, "there's a difference." He sighed seeing that he wasn't going to get anywhere with arguing with her. "Why'd you come over here anyways?" she wondered, closing the box and retying the ribbon and slipping the package into her jacket pocket.

"I'm not sure."

"Oh, okay," she told him, "Well I'm going to go eat dinner now. Have fun in class." She patted him on the arm as she brushed by ignoring the strange looks that were being given to her by the other straggling day class girls. Aidou watched her as she strode away back to the Sun dorms; somehow she had always managed to get the last word in. That both annoyed and amazed him simultaneously.

* * *

Katherine jogged up the stairs to her room after raiding some of the food from the dining hall. She was carrying her bounty in a bag. Unfortunately it wasn't a burlap sack with a big dollar sign on it; it was just a plain white grocery bag. Opening the door to her room she dumped the contents of the bag on the bed and grabbed her computer turning it on.

Pulling up the Google search engine she typed in, 'willy wonka and the chocolate factory megashare' and hit search. A ringing started from her laptop informing her that Lucian was calling on skype. "Hey Luke, "she greeting smiling as her uncle's face appeared in the corner of the screen, "hold on one sec, I'm pulling up the movie." She waited as the screen loaded and turned her attention back to Lucian, "Okay here's what I got," Katherine stared picking up the various food items, "Chocolate cover strawberries, some apple jacks, vegetable sushi, a tub of vanilla ice cream, and some homemade chocolates that I snagged off of a friend. What about you?"

Lucian chuckled his voice coming through Katherine's headphones, " Chocolate chip cookies, potato chips, a turkey sandwich, some frozen yogurt, hot chocolate, and some triple fudge brownies that one of the soldier's wife sent over."

"Yum," she said with a look of envy, "Okay so are we going to start the movie?"

"Sure whenever you're ready," he told her.

"Okay then, we hit play after three," she ordered all serious. "One. Two. Three," she counted out loud.

*CLICK*

"Wow. We did that at the exact same time," Lucian commented impressed as the opening credits began to play.

"It was pretty cool," Katherine remarked, "but seeing all that chocolate almost makes one sick." The opening credits of the movie had rows and rows of chocolate bars, kisses, and caramels on conveyor belts. It all looked amazing, but she knew that three bars in she would get sick of it. Lucian nodded in agreement.

(My dear boy do you ask a fish how it swims? A bird how it flys? No sir-e you don't. They do it because they were born to do it. Just like Willy Wonka was born to be a candy man and you look like you were born to be a Wonka-er.)

"The candy man can," Katherine hummed singing along, "cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good…" Lucian chuckled at her, "What?" she demanded.

"One minute in and you're already singing the songs," he laughed.

"Oh shut up," she frowned before breaking out into a smile, "besides it's your fault anyways. You're the one that showed me this movie in the first place."

"And I had no idea that it would lead to such an addiction," Lucian deadpanned.

Katherine scoffed, "Like you yourself aren't addicted. Do I need to remind you of the reoccurring dreams about marrying an Oompa Loompa."

"Fair enough," he conceded holding his hand up in surrender, "We're both addicted." The two fell into a pleasant silence sitting back and watching the movie. Katherine had pried off the lid to the carton of vanilla ice cream and was digging into it with a spoon, while Lucian was sipping at his hot chocolate.

(Up the airy mountains, down the rushing glen. We would dare not go a hunting, for fear of little men. You see, nobody ever goes in, nobody ever comes out.)

Katherine shivered at those words, "That butcher guy really freaks me out. Especially how he's staring at poor little Charlie like he's about to slice him up with one of his cleavers."

Lucian burst out laughing at her remark. "And you see how he ran away from him," he added. Katherine giggled nodding her head digging into the ice cream tub again.

(Gentlemen I know how anxious you all have been during these last few days. But now I think I can safely say that your time and money have been well spent.)

"I love this scene!" Katherine cried joyously biting into a chocolate covered strawberry.

(Ding. It says I won't tell that would be cheating.)

She bit down on her bottom lip in anticipation holding back a laugh. 'That computer is such a troll,' she smiled.

(Ding. He says what would a computer do with a lifetime supply of chocolate? I am now telling the computer exactly what he can do with a lifetime supply of chocolate!)

* * *

Lucian and Katherine fell back into their typical routine when watching Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. It was a little different than it normally was, however because they weren't sitting next to each other in front of the TV. But it was still fun. It's nice to have a tradition that a person could rely on, especially surround by things that are so foreign. "This was fun," Katherine sighed as the movie ended.

"Yeah it was," Lucian laughed.

"I should probably let you get back to work," she said worriedly, seeing the dark circles under his eyes, "It's like noon there, isn't it."

He stretched out his arms with a pop, "Yeah. It's okay though a lot of the soldiers are in the mess hall right now. It makes it quieter, easier for me to think."

Katherine let out a yawn, "Welp, I'm going to hit the sack, got an early day tomorrow." He nodded. "I'll probably talk to you tomorrow, don't work too hard okay?"

"Okay Kit," he said ," pay attention in class. And do try to have some fun."

"I'll try," she gave a small smile before closing the program. Shutting shut her laptop she set it back on the desk and cleaned out the empty food containers throwing them in the trash. ' _I didn't tell him I got on the newspaper,'_ she realized slipping out of her uniform and into a pair of soft fuzzy pajama pants. They were light pink and had little white and gray sheep on them. She threw on a black tank top and picked up her clothes throwing them in the laundry basket she had bought on one of her trips out of the school. ' _Oh well, I don't really think it matters either way. Though it would make him pretty happy,'_ she thought turning off the lights and slipping under the covers. Katherine dozed off into a peaceful slumber, her dreams being filled with chocolate rivers, edible wallpaper, and tiny orange men.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you go. Chapter four. I'm surprised at how long this is 9,448 words. I could have probably went longer, but I decided to cut the ending short.
> 
> Fun Fact, for you guys Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is one of my favorites childhood movies. I love Gene Wilder, he's makes an amazing Wonka and while I like Johnny Deep as Edward Scissorhands, Jack Sparrow, and the mad Hater... his Wonka is more on the scary crazy side, instead of Gene Wilder's which is the fun crazy.
> 
> Nani= What? in japanese
> 
> There will be more Hiyoki, Natsume, and Kageyama in later chapters. In fact he will probably become Katherine's school rival as you can see he's already threatened by her.


	7. A Day in the Life of Katherine Taylor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Special Chapter told in first person perspective.

**I Don't Date Vampires**  
Chapter 5  
_**"A Day in the Life of Katherine Taylor"** _

* * *

My life? Well how does one describe one's life, their past and the decisions that they made to lead them to where they are now? How does one describe oneself? People perceive things differently. The way I see myself is not how other people see me, just like how I see other people is not the way they see themselves. I guess that a good place to start would be the bare facts.

Hello my name is Katherine Irina Taylor or Kit for short. Many people that call me Kit aren't aware that my initials are in fact K.I.T. though I don't really mind. Personally I find it incredibly amusing, like my own private joke. Though not everyone calls me Kit, some call me Kat, others call me Katherine, one person actually called me Katie once, but I'm pretty sure that was because they forgot my name.

I am the daughter of Evan and Jessica Taylor, their only daughter. My parents married young, from what I remember, high school sweethearts. They didn't meet in high school though which was interesting, instead running into each other at a party or what not. My mother was a recluse staying away from people, quietly observing from the shadows. My father however, was the life of the party, extremely outgoing, popular, confident, and smart. They were complete opposites from each other, but I guess that the saying 'opposites attract' is true. I'm a living testament to that fact.

Growing up I was told again and again, "You look just like your mother." That is true I do take after her in appearance, more so now that I'm older. I always considered my mother to be pretty, from what I can remember. Though it wasn't a typical pretty, it was the kind of pretty that was harder to see at first. The kind of pretty that was just hiding under the surface like a geeky girl who wears those big framed glasses, but when she takes them off you realize that she was in fact pretty from the beginning. It was just hidden because she didn't do anything to make herself standout.

We both have wavy golden brown hair that when the sun hits it just right it appears to be red. Our eyes are a clear olive green with a tint of gold around the pupil and a ring of pale gray at the outer rim of the iris. My skin is a shade darker than her creamy porcelain. I'm also about two inches taller, standing at 5'7 to her 5'5.

The funny thing though is while I look most like my mother, I take after my father in personality. I'm confident, adventurous, outgoing, laidback. This is not to say that I do not enjoy being by myself, I do. Sometimes a little more than I should. Right now you're probably asking yourself, 'where are her parents?' The answer is fairly simple, they're dead. Or at least I've accepted them to be dead; the main point is that they're not in my life anymore, so they're dead to me.

My legal guardian is Lucian Solvensky. I call him Uncle Luke a lot, when in truth he is not even my uncle. It's just easier sometimes then to explain. My parents were the only children in their families, they didn't have brothers or sisters and their own parents had long since passed. When they 'died' I was left completely and utterly alone. I would have been placed into foster care had Lucian not shown up and taken me in. I still consider him family despite everything, we may not be related by blood, but not all families are.

An annoying buzzing noise awoke me from my dreams and I lazily rolled over and placed the pillow over my head to drown it out. I hate mornings. They give me too much reflection time on my past. I stared out hatefully at my alarm clock from under my pillow the numbers 5:30 a.m. glowing brightly on the screen. ' _Well nothing left to do but get up and face the music_ ,' I told myself slowly sliding from the warm comfortable bed and turning off the alarm.

The first thing I do when I get up is brush out my hair. I get terrible bed head in the mornings. It's a good thing that no one else has ever seen me like this, except for my uncle. I would probably be mortified if that happened. Grabbing my black paddle brush I ripped through my tangles none to gently, and then I wrapped my hair in a mess bun and secured it with an elastic tie.

The second thing I do each morning is practice my violin. I always make sure that it's perfectly tuned, polished, and gleamed like at precious jewel. My violin gets better treatment then my books. That is really saying something because all my books look to be brand new, as if I've never cracked the cover when in reality I've read all of them at least five times.

I didn't want to play the violin for a long time after my parents… well you know. There were many reasons for this. It was them that took me to my first lesson when I was too young to be starting. The teacher preferred all the kids to be at least six, I had just turned five. But it was because of my persistence that she took me. My reason for starting though was rash; I wanted to be like Mommy. My mother played the violin often when I was growing up, she would play if for me when I was going to sleep. And when they were no longer there, I no longer wanted to be reminded of that violin. The violin that she played, the same violin that I was now holding in my hands.

Lucian was the one that encouraged me to start playing again. I was stubborn at first not wanting to, but he got sneaky, slipping biographies about composers such as Bach and Beethoven into my reading selections and playing violin music while he was cooking. He slowly started associating the violin with happy feelings through Neuro Linguistic Programing and by the time I was ten I wanted to start playing again. Though despite the questionable method in which he did this I was glad that I started playing again. It makes me feel connected to my parents, like I'm playing for them.

After I spent an hour practicing I placed the violin carefully back in its case clipping it closed. I stopped and stared at the cork bulletin board my eyes glancing over the pictures. Most of them were of me and Lucian, a few were postcards of places we had been, and a couple others were people we had met while traveling. One picture stood out among them though. It was a picture of me with my parents, one of the few that I actually had of them.

I was just around five years old; it was the last picture that was taken of us together. My father was smiling down at me and I was smiling up at him sticking out my tongue. My mother was laughing at us shaking her head. I'm pretty sure that Annie had taken the picture, a candid shot when we weren't looking. Sighing I let a small smile form at the corners of my lips at the memory. I still missed them.

My mind told me that I should start getting ready for school. An annoying thought bring me back to reality, my own personal internal alarm clock. I grabbed my shower stuff, shampoo, conditioner, the works, and walked out of my room closing the door softly behind me. Wrapped in a soft warm robe I traveled down the hallways quietly. Because I set my alarm an hour earlier than most people got up I was usually the first one to get to the showers.

The school showers were nothing to really talk about. They were basically those showers they had at a 24 hour fitness gyms, a really exspensive gym nonetheless still a gym, minus the lockers. I didn't particularly enjoy them, but I've had worse before.

But back to the original question of My Life.

It's normal, basically. I've had a lot of opportunities growing up that most kids wouldn't have. Those opportunities however didn't come without sacrifices. One of those sacrifices being my parents. If they were still around, I wouldn't have gotten the chance to travel as much as I have and it's because of those travels that I've gotten so many opportunities. I guess I have to thank Lucian for that one.

There are actually many things I have to thank Lucian for, many, many things. Things that I could never repay, which kind of sucks, because I hate owing people. But I'm going to owe Lucian for the rest of my life. Thank God that he won't hold it over my head, he's nice like that.

I have been to several different places, but I only consider myself to have lived in three. Thorton Colorado, Rio de Janeiro Brazil, and this small Japanese town 30 minutes from Nagasaki that I can't seem to ever remember the name of; a person would think I'd learn its name by now having already been here a month, but no I haven't. Anywhere else I've only passed through. The last 10 years of my life have basically been this great backpacking adventure, until now.

Seven months. That doesn't seem like a long time in reality, but to me… I haven't stayed in one place for seven months since I was six. I'm not exactly sure what to do with myself.

I pondered this in my head as I dried my hair. I think about a lot of things in the mornings as you've probably noticed by now. Sometimes my mind goes to places I don't want it to like today. This morning I woke up with a question plaguing my mind, it's a question I've thought of before, it's a stupid question. Okay, it's not really a stupid question; it's truly a very good question. I've been asking myself this question for ten years and had yet to come up with a plausible answer, which frustrates me to no end.

I can't for the life of me remember much of anything about my parents. I remember what they look like and I remember what they were like and a couple of vague facts about how they met and that they had no siblings, but nothing else. It's puzzling. I have no idea what kind of jobs they had. A kid should be able to know that right? Wrong, I did not know that, I've should have known that though.

My parents were constantly leaving for work. I saw them off every day before they left me with the nanny. Sometimes they worked over night and were gone a couple days at a time. Why didn't I ever question it? I'll tell you why, it was because I was young and naïve. But now that I'm older it brings questions to my mind. What did my parents do? How come they never talked about their pasts? And why did Lucian show up before we even knew they were missing?

I tried asking Lucian some of these questions when I was younger, but every time he was able to stealthily change the subject. It makes me wonder what he actually knows. But I could never crack him; eventually I just gave up on getting answers. After that I just watched him, he never gave anything away though.

' _It's a mystery_ ,' I sighed running my fingers through my now dry hair deciding that I wasn't going to dwell on it anymore. ' _I'm just being paranoid. It's not like my parents lived some sort of double life. You're just making yourself crazy,'_ I said laughing at myself.

Trudging to my closet I took out the school uniform and slipped it on. I didn't really like this uniform; the skirt was too short for my tastes reaching about mid-thigh. I liked my skirts to brush just above my knee, call me modest if you like, I probably am. The rest of it wasn't so bad however. I liked the jacket and the black knee socks. I could do without the red neck tie or at least replace it with an actual red tie, and then I would love it.

Once I was dressed I went down to the dining hall to eat breakfast. The dining hall kind of reminded me of one of those old castle banquet halls that would be in Disney movies, like Sleeping Beauty or the Little Mermaid. The only difference was that instead of one long table with intricately carved chairs, there were plain simple wooden tables and matching chairs scattered about. East facing windows allowed for a lot of natural light in the morning and if you got there early enough a spectacular view of the sunrise.

That's something that made mornings bearable.

"Kat!"

I glanced around seeing who was calling me. In the corner by the cereal station I saw Yuuki and Yori. Yuuki was waving me over excitedly a huge smile on her face. ' _How can she be so energetic in the mornings? It's exhausting. One would think she would be tired with her schedule,'_ muttering internally to myself I walked over to them. "Ohiyou," I greeted numbly still sleepy.

"Ohiyou, Katherine," Yori returned cordially. I like Yori. She was quiet. Quiet is good in the mornings.

Yuuki on the other hand was the opposite of quiet. "Hey Kat! How are you? Do you want to have breakfast with us? We just got up, well Yori just got up. I just got back from patrols," Yuuki rambled happily not noticing the effect her loud voice had on my ears.

' _My poor ears,'_ I whined to myself. Truthfully I like Yuuki. I really do, but sometimes she can be a little much. "I'm good Yuuki, still trying to wake up," I mumbled then let out an involuntary yawn. I stayed up too late last night with Ayame. When I finally got back to campus it was around one in the morning, it's my own fault though that I only got about four hours of sleep.

"Oh gomien," Yuuki quickly apologized lowering her voice to a whisper.

I waved her off tiredly, "It's okay, I'll be fine once I get some coffee." The both of them were quiet as I piled a plate with some toast, eggs, bacon, blue berry pancakes. I grabbed a cup of coffee and followed Yori and Yuuki to a table. "Yuuki, what happened to your neck?" I inspected curiously.

There was a small bandage on her smooth olive skin. I could tell that she tried to hide it, but she wasn't doing a very good job. Her collar that she carefully buttoned up to the top was just brushing the rim of the bandage. A scarf would have helped more than that. She started panicking immediately. "Oh this?" she pointed to the band aid, "I scratched myself on a tree branch while on patrols. It looks worse than it is."

Yori and I both shared a glance. "Okay," I shrugged digging into my pancakes. If she didn't want to tell me, whatever it wasn't really my business. "So Yori," I began changing the subject, "what's new with you?" Yuuki sighed with relief now that the conversation was off her.

"Nothing really. School, you know," she answered only pausing briefly before returning back to her breakfast. There was a brief moment of silence between us, me chewing on my eggs, Yori sipping her orange juice, and Yuuki brushing her bandaged self-consciously. "How do you like the newspaper?" Yori looked at me inquiringly.

"I don't even know why I joined," I groaned pinching my nose. I hated that club and was constantly berating myself since I joined it. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the constant hazing from Kasumi. If he didn't want me to join then he could've just said no. Why make me endure this mental torture? Instead of reacting negatively like any normal person would do, I just egged him on. Why? It just tended to make things worse. On a brighter note I am causing him as much headache as he is causing me.

"Is it really that bad?" Yuuki questioned concerned.

I shook my head, not at Yuuki's question, but the ridiculousness of her question. "Bad is a gross understatement," I answered sighing. The word to describe it would be…I don't think there is a word in any language to describe it. It's like sarcastic- comical-frustrating-awfulness that is the closest thing I have. Natsume and Hiyoki make it bearable though. My first impression of them was off; I thought they would be some of those crazy fan girl types, not saying that they aren't they are, but there not just fan girls. They can actually think for themselves.

Natsume turned out to be sporty, obnoxious, outgoing, funny, and a complete glutton. That girl was constantly eating; she hides food around campus like a squirrel. It's only because of her playing three varsity sports that she's not three-hundred and fifty pounds or one-hundred and fifty-eight point eight kilograms in the Japanese equivalent. She also has her own fan club; I only thought that the night class had a fan club. But apparently a lot of day class guys have major hots for her. She doesn't really notice any of them though, too infatuated with Ichijou Takuma, which I found out was the other guy I saw when I first met Aidou.

Hiyoki was more reserved balancing out Natsume's wild personality, but those two got into some hilarious arguments sometimes. Like last week Natsume had set her alarm for 5:45 a.m. and Hiyoki is the type of person you don't want to wake up in the morning. So when that alarm went off, she got up grabbed her books and uniform and chaired Natsume in their room. I only found out about this because she went to my room and crashed on my bed. Natsume ended up having to climb out the window tying the sheets together to make a long rope.

She is into painting and drawing and of course writing. Hiyoki also is a major prankster, I have fun with that. We kind of started a pranking war like the ones Lucian and I used to have a lot. The interesting thing about her though is that she does graffiti art. Yes, I'm friends with a vandal, never saw that coming.

My friends are pretty laughable here. I mean if I think about a vandal, a sporty fan girl, a girl that has so much energy it's like she drank seven espressos, another girl who is quiet and sarcastic, a moody, emo boy who is surprisingly into video games, and a gorgeous, awkward, blonde, playboy, genius who doesn't listen to music. If you put all these people in a room together I'm sure the world will implode, yet somehow I'm friends with all of them. I have no idea how that happened.

"Is the class rep still giving you trouble?" Yori questioned staring at me evenly. Her amber eyes seemed more unnerving today, if that was possible.

"I'm giving him just as much trouble as he's giving me," I replied disinterested. I didn't really want to dwell on this topic any more than I have. Especially since they're giving out new writing assignments today and with my luck I'm going to have another stupid one. The last piece was on something about allergic reactions. It sucked.

As if sensing my resolve not to talk about the topic anymore, Yuuki launched into a long rehashing of her night on patrols. I tuned out mostly giving the occasional nod telling her I was listening when I really wasn't. I just wanted this day to be over and it only just started.

The dreaded hour was nigh, the hour that I put in at the newspaper club. I should really just quit, but I'll be damned if I let Kasumi get to me. I refuse to give him the satisfaction. And I found out that the more determined I am the more it just pisses him off.

"Okay so most of the assignments have already been given out," he began smugly staring at me as he said this, "fortunately there is something for you Katherine. How does covering the new faculty housing renovation sound?"

I stared calmly at him or as calmly as I could, hoping to mask the fact that I was seething inside. ' _Damn that smug smirk. I just want to slap him across the face. I definitely called it this morning, another stupid assignment.'_ "Cover what?" I questioned disbelieving.

Kasumi made a face like I just asked a completely moronic question. He rolled his eyes at me and mumbled something under his breath before composing himself with a rather forced smile. "The remodeling process," he drawled jadedly, "Is it environmentally safe? What are the financial ramifications? Should brick be considered, especially taking into account the historical architecture of the campus? I'm sure there's a lead somewhere."

I was quiet not saying anything. "Unless you don't want to do it," he started a smugness coming back into his features. It was like he was daring me to not do it. "You just take this time off and relax," my eyes probably narrowed a little into a glare, "maybe get a manicure."

"I'll do it," I said civilly, forcing a smile.

"Perhaps get a massage or aroma therapy, smell like a peach for a few days," he suggested spitefully under fake politeness.

"I said I'll do it, I'll cover the renovation," I countered with the same fake civility that he had.

"Okay then," he sighed crossing out his list. To anyone else the conversation was completely relaxed, though I knew that neither me nor him were relaxed. There was the tension in the air passing silently between us, as if we were trying to strangle each other with only our minds and sheer force of will. I imagined briefly what this would look like in a manga, both Kasumi and I would probably have that little angry symbol on out foreheads as we smiled at each other and Hiyoki and Natsume would have that sweat drop drawn on them. Shino and the teacher editor would have completely clueless expression, it was easy to tell they had no idea what was going on.

"Well now that that's all taken care off I'm off to grade papers. Kageyama you'll take care of the rest?" Kasumi and I broke from our intense staring contest to look at the teacher.

"Yes, Sensei," he told him cordially. The room was utterly silent as the teacher let himself out closing the door behind him. The silence was so loud. A rushing river in my ears. Hiyoki and Natsume glanced at each other worriedly before slipping from their seats and away from Kasumi and me. It wasn't a very pleasant atmosphere I could imagine. I didn't really want to be here either. Shino paid no attention to anything pushing her glasses up her nose, and then retreating to her desk. I stood up too stretching my legs, while Kasumi went to check over the layout for the paper.

I stared at this back, eyes narrowed. "Is something wrong Taylor-san?" I snapped out of whatever thoughts I was having a pleasant smile forming at the corners of my mouth, while fighting the urge to grimace at the san suffix.

"No nothing's wrong," I assured him, "I love this assignment. "

"Glad to hear it."

I glared when he turned around again so he couldn't see my face. "I'm going to write the greatest piece on remodeling that you have ever read and next week when you inevitably give me the piece on the new septic tanks I'm going to be just as thrilled," I told him, my voice still cheerful and calm.

"I like a team player," he commented.

"And no matter how many crappy, useless assignment you throw at me, I'm not going to quit and I'm not going to back down. So you can take a couple minutes and think about that no matter how awful you are at the end of the year on my high school transcript it will say that I was on this paper. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some research to do on early architecture," I finished. By the tenseness of his shoulders and the tightness of his jaw I could tell that my words indeed got to him.

"A thousand words on my desk by Monday," he ordered an actual glare forming on his face.

I stopped at the door I was in the process of walking out of and turned to him. "Aye aye, Chief," I fake saluted before slipping out into the hall.

His angered expression calmed me down a little as I walked. It was so stressful for us to be in the same room together, I was amazed that we haven't actually come to physical blows by now. It might be because he was raise to be a gentleman or it might be because he has a better hold on his temper than I do. I knew that if we should ever come to physical violence that I would probably win and that's not me just talking myself up either. It's the truth.

As a child Lucian taught me Krava Maga, a form of Israeli Ju-jitsu. His excuse was something along the lines of, "I'm not always going to be able to save your ass, so you need to be able to defend yourself." I've never really had to use it, Thank God, but I knew that if push came to shove that I could.

Stopping at a set of large wooden door I paused, thinking about it. There was a time where I almost had to use it. It was one of the most terrifying moments of my life, also one of the most physically painful.

* * *

_**The room was dark and musty. I couldn't see two feet in front of myself, but I knew that I was restrained. The course ropes rubbed against my wrists and ankles irritating the skin as I wiggled around. There was a gag in my mouth preventing me from talking or crying out for help. I now know how a horse feels with a bit in its mouth. The real question though was how did I get here?** _

_**The last thing I remember was strolling down the street, taking in the sights of Moscow in the late spring. Then someone grabbed me from an alleyway and put a cloth over my mouth. I tried to fight back, but I panicked there was a strong smell wafting from the rag making me dizzy. I blacked out shortly after that. The cloth must have been soaked in chloroform, or that chemical that knocks people out. I've never actually looked into it, but I remember hearing of it a lot on TV shows.** _

_**Now I was wide awake my eyes darting around terrified, even though I couldn't see anything. Where the hell was I? Where is Lucian? Does he know I'm missing? How long have I been out? These questions whizzed through my mind as my heartbeat began to speed up. One thing was painful obvious to me despite everything. I've been kidnapped.** _

_**I thought kidnappings only happened in the movies, or to people with a lot of money, or a lot of connections. Lucian didn't have any of those, okay well maybe a few paper connections, but not serious enough to warrant a kidnapping. If this was for ransom… they might as well but a bullet through my head, they weren't going to get anywhere.** _

_**Tears started to prick in my eyes as I thought about it. I don't want to die. I'm too young; I'm only thirteen, for God sake. '**_ No. I will not cry, _ **' I told myself determined. If I was going to die I would at least retain any dignity I could, however small it was.**_

" _ **Kit?"**_

_**I recognized that voice, it was Lucian's. Even his little nickname for me gave it away. "Kit, are you awake?" Since I couldn't talk I did the close thing I could do to answer was making an 'mmmhm' sound. I heard him sigh with relief. It sounded like he was sitting about two feet to my left, probably bound in the same way that I was, except for the gag. "Are you hurt?" 'mmmhn' He was silent for a few seconds processing. "Everything's going to be okay. I'll get us out of this; I just need you to stay calm. Can you do that for me?" He questioned? 'mmmhm' sounds like the easiest thing ever, not. I am freaking out.** _

_**I took a deep breath in hopes to calm myself down. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. After a few deep breaths I was able to compose myself as much as possible. That composure crumbled when the lights flickered on blinding me.** _

_**Lucian and I blinked against the sudden harsh change, our eyes having been adjusted to the darkness for a few hours. The first thing I was able to see was a large metal table sitting in front of us; it was the only other furniture in the room besides the chairs that we were sitting on. What was on the table was what made my stomach bottom out. A collection of knives. Shit.** _

_**Even if I never watched TV or saw anything remotely similar, it didn't take a genius to know that those knives were here to be used. There was one thing I didn't do and that was torture. I'd opt for the bullet through my forehead, being blown up, anything as long as it was quick. I had absolutely zero tolerance for physical pain.** _

_**My eyes darted around the rest of the room, maybe I could figure out what we were in. Cement walls, floors and pillars, no windows. A warehouse maybe? There was nothing else I could see and I didn't hear any noises like cars or people, which meant we were in a secluded area. No one around to hear our screams.** _

_**I scanned over the knives from where I sat seeing if I could recognize any of them. There was meat cleaver, a Bowie knife, a couple of saws… and a bread knife? Why would they need a bread knife? What kind of sick, twisted mind even thinks about hacking people up with a bread knife? Actually it looks like it could saw through flesh pretty easily. '**_ Eww. What the hell am I thinking about? Morbid much, Katherine? _ **' I questioned myself sarcastically. There was also a bunch of tinier knives, like surgeon tools, that I didn't know the name of. The smaller knives seem much less threatening. I knew I was never going to be able to look at a bread knife the same way again if we got out of here. That much I was sure of.**_

_**I watched as a man walked out from behind us, where the light switch was located. He had a cruel face, a snake, with beady, soulless eyes. I couldn't help comparing him to a rattle snake, but even rattle snakes are less terrifying than this person. He had extremely pale skin, unnaturally pale. It was as if he was sick or slowly dying, rotting away until he was nothing but a skeleton.** _

_**My nose crinkled up at him. He smelled awful, like a sewer rat. He looked like a rat or a mole. I wish this was Whack-A-Mole so I could just crush him over and over again with a hammer. Lucian tensed next to me, his jaw clenched in anger. The rat saw this and his lips pulled up into a viscous smile. I grimaced at the sight, his gums were black and his tongue was some unnatural bluish color. That has to be what mouth cancer looks like, a lesson not to smoke.** _

_**I swear a room full of mirrors would crack if this scumbag was near them. He was hideous. The rat stared at me next, causing my muscle to constrict. He cocked his head to the right curiously as if what he was seeing was puzzling. His voice came out a few seconds later, a horrid sound like nails being dragged across a chalkboard. I couldn't understand what he said, speaking in Russian, but Lucian did.** _

_**Lucian calmly snarled back a response through gritted teeth. My eyes didn't leave the man standing in front of us. Lucian's retort was undoubtedly amusing to the rat because he burst out into hysterical laughter. This laughter made my stomach do flips, I felt like I was about to throw up.** _

" _ **She's a quiet a pretty girl ain't she?" I growled as his finger's brushed my hair from my face. If only I didn't have this gag in my mouth I would bite him, or spit in his face. At the moment I didn't really care if it would make things worse, I just wanted this rat to stop touching me.**_

" _ **DO NOT TOUCH HER," Lucian snarled at him. The venom in his voice made even me shiver.**_

_**The rat pulled his hand back and stared at Lucian. "It seems as if I hit a nerve," he chuckled walking to the table. I watched cautiously as his fingers glided over the knives. '**_ Please pick a tiny one _ **' I prayed hopeful. He picked up one of the small knives, "Girl, what do you think of this?" he inquired holding it up so I could see.**_

_**It had a small sharp blade and tiny black handle. I'm sure that he could do a lot of damage with that knife, but it's seemed a lot less harmful than the others. The rat chuckled at me, "That's right you're gaged you can't answer." He crossed the distance between us and untied the gag. Then he held the knife in front of my face. "What do you think, sweetheart?" he whispered in my ear.** _

" _ **You're a sadistic bastard," I spat out viciously.**_

_**The rat laughed again as he walked back in front of me. "I like this one," he pointed at me with another cruel smile, "she's got fire."** _

_**This little scene was interrupted when another man walked into the room to talk to the rat. He didn't seem as bad, not as hideous or vile, nevertheless still cruel. He still had those dark soulless eyes. I watched as they conversed in Russian again the rat glanced back towards the door and nodded. "I'm going to have to deal with something. But you two sit tight, we'll pick this up when I get back." He moved put the knife back on the table, but paused. "Could you hold this for me, sweetie?" My hands were literally tied to the armrests of the chair, I couldn't hold anything.** _

_**Upon seeing my expression he smiled again. "Oh, that's right you can't. Let me help you with that then," he stabbed the knife into my right thigh. I let out a scream not being able to keep it in, tears started to pour over my eyes. The rat let out a sadistic laugh taking some sort of sick enjoyment in my pain then walked out of the room with the other rat.** _

" _ **Kit, just breathe through the pain. Try to move your chair so I can pull it out," Lucian told me trying to comfort me. I nodded taking deep breaths as I wiggled in my seat to get to him. Unlike me Lucian's hands were tied behind his back so he could easily pull the knife out. I managed to turn my chair ninety degrees so Lucian could grab the knife.**_

_**I bit down on my tongue as to not let out a scream as he pulled it out. The loss of blood was making me a little lightheaded. I glanced down at my lap. Big mistake. The blood was seeping out of the wound, a dark red color staining my jeans. Yep, I'm definitely throwing up today.** _

_**Lucian quickly sliced through the ropes on his hand and ankles, when he heard footsteps. "I'm going to have to put it back in," he whispered to me.** _

" _ **What?!" I shouted/whispered back? I don't want to get stabbed again! That was not pleasant. Hell NO!**_

" _ **Look, do you want to get out of here?" I nodded. "Then you have to trust me. If they come back in here and see the knife missing from your leg they're going to start asking questions."**_

" _ **Fine," I hissed, "just put it back in really quickly. I'm about to throw up."**_

_**Lucian promptly did what I said putting a hand over my mouth to muffle any sound the escaped my lips. "One more thing, when they come back in keep your eyes closed and your head down until I tell you to, okay?" I nodded tears welling up in my eyes again. Lucian gave me a reassuring smile before moving my chair around the right way and sitting down in his.** _

_**When the door opened I squeezed my eyes shut and bent my head down. Whatever was going to happen, I really didn't want to witness it. One thing was clear though, Lucian was going to kick some serious ass. There was a moment of silence and I almost opened my eyes to see what was happening, before a loud crash sounded. There was a tinkling of metal like a bunch of knives falling on cement.** _

_**CRACK.** _

_**I winced a little at the sound of a bone snapping. I was unsure if it was Lucian or someone else's. There were some more footsteps rushing into the room. That was the last thing I heard before strangled screams broke out. '**_ Oh I am definitely going to have some nightmares about this for a couple of months. _ **' There were a few more crashing sounds and something wet splattered across my face. I didn't dare open my eyes though.**_

_**After what seemed like five minutes the screams had died down into complete silence again. I dared not to breathe. Is Lucian okay? Is he dead? My muscles were tense, just waiting for my end. "Kit," I heard Lucian talking to me, "Kit, it's okay, you can open your eyes now."** _

_**I slowly opened my eyes, staring into Lucian's face. His hazel eyes were scanning over my face with worry. My fingers brushed the wet substance on my cheek and I stared at the red that had smeared onto my fingers. "Here let's get the knife out of your leg," he said taking hold of the handle. I quickly bit my tongue again bracing for the pain. "We're going to have to put some pressure on that. Hold on," he said ripping a piece of fabric off of something and wrapping it securely around my thigh over the wound. He sliced the ropes off my wrists and ankles and swung me onto his back. "Can you hold on okay?"** _

" _ **Yes," I answered my voice hoarse. He tightened his grip on me and walked out of the room.**_

_**I was right about us being in a warehouse and also about it being secluded. Lucian was carrying me on his back through a dense forest, my leg was still bleeding. "I feel like we were just in some action movie," I commented off-handedly trying to lighten the heavy cloud that had fallen over us.** _

" _ **Taken?"**_

" _ **Die Hard," I answered tightening my arms around Lucian's neck.**_

" _ **Yippie ki yay," Lucian chuckled to himself.**_

" _ **Mother fucker," I finished.**_

" _ **What did I tell you about that?" Lucian questioned twisting his head to look at me.**_

_**I stared back down, "Sorry." Lucian didn't particularly like it when I cursed. He raised me not to curse, however as I got older it became harder and harder to enforce that rule.** _

_**He sighed quietly to himself. "I guess I can make an exception, considering," he conceded. I smiled at him snuggling into his back. "Don't fall asleep back there," he warned me, "If you do I'm going to make you walk."** _

" _ **Okay," I mumbled, "I won't." We were both quite again for a couple of minutes. "Lucian?"**_

" _ **Yeah?"**_

" _ **Why did those people take us?" I questioned looking over my shoulder from where we had come. It didn't make any sense to me.**_

_**He shrugged. "Who knows? It seemed like those guys was utter lunatics," Lucian answered some anger seeping back into his voice, not at me, but at them.** _

" _ **Am I going to be okay?" Lucian glanced at me over his shoulder quizzically. "I mean, I'm not going to lose a leg or anything right?" I elaborated.**_

" _ **No," he shook his head, "but we still need to get you to the hospital. You'll probably have to get some stitches, antibiotics, and a blood transfusion. You won't lose your leg though."**_

" _ **Oh."**_

_**Silence engulfed us again as we trekked through the trees. Eventually we found a road and were able to hitch hike to the nearest hospital. The woman that stopped the car for us looked incredibly concerned. I imagined we must of looked a sight, both of us covered in blood and a with a rag tied over a knife wound. Amazing that anyone stopped their cars for us.** _

_**Once we got to the hospital it was just as Lucian predicted; stitches, antibiotics, and a blood transfusion. I was on crutches for a couple weeks after that. The knife was lucky enough not to have punctured any major arteries, if that had happened there was no doubt about it. I would've bleed out and died. Ever since that incident though, Lucian had been extremely protective of me. I get it. When some you care about is kidnapped you kind of want to keep a close watch on that person, make sure it doesn't happen again. I don't want it to happen again either.** _

* * *

I shook myself from my memories staring down at my right leg. There just above my black sock was a small scar. That is the souvenir I have from Russia. I didn't really want that souvenir, nope didn't want it at all, but that's not to say that nothing good came out of the experience. It was because of that that I stepped up my Krava Maga training. I refused to ever let something like that happen to me again and it's not going to as long as I can help it. There are only so many traumatic experiences a person can handle in his or her life. I've had too many already.

My eyes scanned through the books in the library, looking for things that would help me on my paper. ' _Remodeling,'_ I groaned irritated. That sounds so boring. I didn't really know how to make the topic interesting. I had to make this paper amazing though. If I did it could possibly get the teacher editor to notice and have Kasumi give me better topics to write about.

I picked up a couple of books stacking them on top of each other and walked over to a quiet isolated study table towards the back and sat down and started reading, while taking notes. I'm not sure how long I was there, or how long it was before I fell asleep. But I became aware that I was asleep when I woke up to someone shaking me back and forth.

I pried my eyes open slowly. The sight that met me though had me jolting awake in surprise. There stand above me; his face only about 6 inches away from mine was Aidou. "Holy shit," I cursed backing away from him abruptly. It might have been too abrupt because the sudden momentum flung me back in my chair onto the floor.

CRASH.

"Ow," I moaned rubbing my head her I had hit it on the floor. "Damn it Aidou, haven't you ever heard of personal boundaries?" I snapped. The blonde was standing by the table looking down at me in surprise and amusement. He was trying to hold back laughter I could tell.

After taking a moment to composing himself he asked me in a serious voice, "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Do you have any idea how loud your voice is? And judging by your face I'm guessing it's late," I snipped annoyed standing up. I bent down and right back the chair.

"Late? It's 4:30 in the morning."

I sat back down at the chair cleaning up my books and papers. I paused briefly… 4:30? The last time I looked at the clock it was like 5:30 at night. I just had myself and eleven hour nap! That's not a nap that fucking coma. I look up at Aidou; his blue eyes were narrowed like he was angry. What does he have to be angry about?

"Do you have any idea what would have happened to you if anyone else had found you? You would've been—" Aidou started then brusquely cutting off. His blue eyes widened slightly like he was just about to say something he shouldn't. I started at him curiously.

"I would've been what?" I asked.

My question snapped him out of whatever trance he was in, "You would've been in a lot of trouble."

I groaned rubbing my neck. "Remind me never to fall asleep at a desk again;" I told him, "I got this horrible creak in my neck. I'm going to need a jackhammer to get this out."

"Kit, are you listening to me?" he demanded his voice filling up with anger again.

I sighed and stopped massaging my neck to look at the blonde haired boy. "Look Aidou," I started, "it's not my fault that I'm here at this time. I just woke up from a fucking eleven hour coma nap at a library desk. Cut me some slack."

He groaned to himself running his fingers through his hair. "You're so infuriating sometimes," he grumbled.

"You, Kageyama, and my uncle should join a club. You guys could have Tee-shirts printed out and eat little tiny steak kabobs," I told him sarcastically patting his arm. He was quiet for a sometime while I packed the books up sliding some into my backpack and hoisting the rest in my arms.

"Come on," he ordered gruffly.

"Come on where?"

Aidou sighed grabbing my wrist. "I'm taking you back to your room," he informed me. I didn't particularly enjoy the harshness in his voice or how tense he seemed. Why was he so angry all of the sudden? It was almost as if he and Zero had temporarily switched bodies. In fact I could have sworn that's what had happened, I have never seen Aidou this overly protective before. It was kind of creeping me out.

"Why?" I demanded as he tugged me along through the corridor. "Is it so the scary monsters don't get me?" I questioned playfully. My question only seemed to make him tenser. I sighed, "Aidou, I haven't been afraid of monsters since I was five. This is completely unnecessary."

He stopped walking and dropped my hand, "Fine. Walk back by yourself."

"I will." My firm voice fell flat though when I walked smack into a wall. I apparently wasn't fully awake yet. I heard Aidou sigh again from behind me as I rubbed my forehead. Suddenly I was lifted from the ground. "What the hell are you doing?!" I shouted incensed.

Aidou had scooped me up into his arms, one arm under my knees and the other around my shoulders. I was flopping around like a fish out of water trying to get him to let me go. "Would you stop thrashing around," he complained his grip tightening, "you're already heavy enough as it is. You're going to make me drop you."

"How dare you," I snapped, "you never hear me making fun of your hair!"

He paused to look at me, "What's wrong with my hair?"

"It's all crazy. It's like your cousin messed it up with a vacuum cleaner hose while you were sleeping," I informed him. Truthful it really did look like that, but it suited him nicely. I'm never going to tell him that though, especially when he's being annoying as hell. Aidou was quiet for a minute before bursting out into laughter.

"You're something else Kit," he said shaking his head.

I waved it off. "Yeah, yeah I'm fucking hilarious. Now I believe you were in the process of carrying me back to my room, unless you've decided to let me walk. If that's not the case just wake me when we get there. It is room 136," I instructed tiredly letting out a yawn. My muscles relaxed instantaneously as my head fell against his shoulder. If I had been awake as he carried me I might have noticed the pair of eyes that watched us in the courtyard as he carried me up to my room. It was bound to come back and bite me in the ass later.

So yeah I guess this is basically my life. Oh and don't even bother complaining about how describing my day like this is not telling you what my life is. That is too much of a loaded question to be able to answer it simply. You don't believe then try it yourself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to those of you who've read this so far. I can say that from here on out the story will most likely go further away from the original story line. But if you want to know when this chapter takes place its the day after Zero drinks Yuuki's blood (hence the bandage on Yuuki's neck). 
> 
> I'm still working on posting all the current chapters for this fic, but I'm about halfway done as of this chapter. Once all the current chapters are posted I'm afraid that you'll have to wait for regular updates.


	8. Midnight Gumbo

**I Don't Date Vampire**  
Chapter 6  
_**"Midnight Gumbo"** _

* * *

Aidou stared down at the girl in his arms. He didn't understand how she could have fallen asleep so quickly. ' _It's definitely not normal,'_ he considered, ' _but she isn't either.'_ She looked so peaceful sleeping like she didn't have a care in the world. And Katherine had had the same expression in the library when he had found her.

* * *

_**Aidou walked silently through campus. He was sick of classes and those idiotic lectures on bridging the gap between humans and vampires. Repeatedly he would slip out of class when he got bored. He had been trying to do it less often considering what had happened the last time he had slipped out, but tonight his attention span was shot.** _

_**Pulling opening one of large wooden doors he strode into the library, figuring that would be a good place to hide out until classes ended. The funny thing though was that even while he was ridiculously smart Aidou didn't really start reading until he met Katherine. Before that he would only read things that pertain to school, a lot of boring subjects like math and science. But when he saw Katherine's love for literature he decided that he would give it a shot.** _

_**And give it a shot he did. After he first picked up one of her books he was pretty much hooked. Aidou would often question himself on why he never read before because it could have saved him from a lot of boredom. He now understood why Ichijou was so addicted to manga. Ever since then he always had a book with him and Katherine would habitually give him one of her books to read.** _

_**Aidou scanned through the titles absentmindedly before settling on one entitled 'Screwtape Letters'. He remembers Katherine telling him it was a series of letters written from one demon to another. It was written by a Christian writer by the name of C.S. Lewis who is most famous for his series the Chronicles of Narnia. Katherine had spent at least twenty minutes on describing his work and telling him why he was one of her favorite authors.** _

_**A small smile pulled at the corner of his lips as he remembered their conversations. Most of the time they spent together was just reading, but the rest of it was sorting through music and talking about a bunch of pointless topics. She never did mention her parents to him or to anyone for that matter, not even Ayame. He'd be lying if he didn't say that he was dying with curiosity to know, she never even said their names.** _

_**He pondered this in his head as he rounded a bookshelf. '**_ It's probably not a pleasant subject to bring up, _ **' Aidou told himself. The sight that met his eyes on the other side of the bookshelf caused him stopped dead in his tracks. '**_ Think of the devil and she hath doth appear, _ **' he clamped his mouth shut and his eyes narrowed.**_

'What the hell is she doing here this late? _ **' he questioned slowly starting to fill with anger. There not four feet away from him was Katherine. She was sitting at a table with books and paper scattered about and a mechanical pencil lying by her hand, probably fell from her grip when she dozed off. The girl was cradling her head in her arms sleeping peacefully. The moonlight from the window casted its glow on her golden waves illuminating the colors of red in her hair giving her this sort of halo effect.**_

_**She was unaware, her guard was entirely down. Aidou's mind all the sudden started running scenarios through his mind about what would have happened if someone else had come across her and not him. She could have been killed. '**_ Stupid, stupid girl. Baka, _ **' he muttered to himself walking over to her. It bothered him that she could be so idiotic as to fall asleep in a school filled with vampires, '**_ Okay she didn't know the night class was vampires, but still… _ **'**_

_**He place he hand on her shoulder and gruffly started to shake her awake. She groaned in annoyance and slapped his hand away. Aidou had thought that she was awake but he realized seconds later that she was still sleeping when she snuggled back into her arms again. He leaned down and shook her again this time harsher than before.** _

_**Katherine slowly opened her eyes to look at him. The olive green was dulled with sleep and confusion as she took in her surroundings. Suddenly recognition came into play causing her eyes to widen, "Holy shit." Aidou had to hold back a laugh when she flipped back in the chair.** _

_**He momentarily forgot about how he was angry at her. She just looked so… dare he say cute, as she rubbed her head she had smacked on the floor. "Damn it Aidou, haven't you ever heard of personal boundaries?" Katherine hissed at him.** _

_**Aidou was quiet for a second trying to remember what he was going to say to her. "Do you have any idea what time it is?" he questioned.** _

" _ **Do you have any idea how loud your voice is? And judging by your face I'm guessing it's late," she replied stand up and picking up the toppled over chair. Aidou watched as she sat down and started cleaning up the books and papers. He got the sudden urge to strangle her, '**_ How dare she talk to me like that. I was only trying to be nice. _ **'**_

" _ **Late? It's 4:30 in the morning," he informed her. Katherine paused at that, her eye brows scrunched together in thought. Some of the worry he felt came back into him making him angry. "Do you have any idea what would have happened to you had anyone else found you? You would've been—" Aidou cut off. He had been one word away from telling her that she would've been killed, which would have led to the night class are vampires conversation.**_

_**Katherine stared at him confused. "I would've been what?" she questioned. Her olive eyes were boring into him suspiciously.** _

_**Aidou attention snapped back to the girl. "You would've been in a lot of trouble," he said after clearing his throat. '**_ Nice save, Hanabusa, _ **' he congratulated himself giving a metaphorical pat on the back. Katherine had rolled her eyes at his answer; she didn't really care if she had gotten into trouble.**_

" _ **Remind me never to fall asleep at a desk again," she groaned massaging her neck, "I've got the horrible creak in my neck. I'm going to need a jackhammer to get this out."**_

" _ **Kit, are you listening to me?" Aidou questioned slamming his hands on the desk.**_

_**Katherine jumped, startled at the sudden noise. She stopped massaging her neck and sighed. "Look Aidou," she drawled annoyed, "It's not my fault that I'm here at this time. I just woke up from a fucking eleven hour coma nap at a library desk. Cut me some slack."** _

'Eleven hours? She had been sleeping there for elven hours? _ **' He paused processing what she was saying. Aidou considered this, '**_ If she had been sleeping for elven hours that meant that she fell asleep around 5:30 and was here the whole time. How did no one else come across her in that time? _ **'**_

* * *

Even now Aidou tried to figure it out as he carried her from campus. ' _It had to be just dumb luck that she wasn't discovered_ ,' he shook his head. Another thing bothered him though; she said she didn't believe in monsters. Of course she didn't know that she was saying this to a vampire, who many would actually call a monster, but it was strange. It was especially strange how she guessed why he walking her back to her room, even while she was being sarcastic she was still spot on.

Katherine shivered a little as breeze blew past them and snuggled closer to Aidou. The blonde vampire glanced down at the girl as she did this. She was clutching books in one arm and gripping on to the front of his jacket with the other. There were Goosebumps on her knees and her nose was red from the cold, she was still out of it however.

Aidou managed to carry her to her room, but was unable to wake her up again. ' _Damn, she sleeps like the dead,'_ he was supporting her weight with his arm wrapped securely around her waist. He glanced over the lock on the door. ' _She has to have a key on her somewhere,'_ his eyes fell to the colorful knitted backpack on her shoulders.

Carefully, he moved her so he could search through the bag. Typically Aidou wouldn't dream of going through a woman's things, it was against how he was raised, but this was different. Said girl was out cold and he couldn't just leave her in the hallway by her door. That would be wrong and even worse than going through her bag. His fingers touched a metal object which he fished out seeing that it was the key.

After opening the door he picked her back up again and walked over the threshold. Katherine's room was a lot different from the one he had back at the night dormitory. He expected that though. The night class dorms were fancier. But the thing that jumped out at him as he took in the surrounding what that Katherine was very neat like Kain.

The floor was completely devoid of clothing, unlike Ichijou's room, and everything was organized accordingly. Her room was actually kind of plain as if she was expecting to move out any day. Despite this Aidou could see her personality in the few belongings that she did have. The shelves were filled with books and CD's. And a bright colorful patched rug gave color to the plain white walls, curtains, and sheets.

He laid her down on the bed gently, pulling back the covers and slipping her under them. Aidou took the books from her hands, slipped the backpack from her shoulders and set them on the desk next to her laptop. Finally he set the key down on the dresser next to a white iPod classic hooked up to the charger. After everything was put back into place Aidou grabbed his book and made his way out of the room silently.

The door was just about to shut behind him when footsteps alerted him to someone else's soon to be presence. He stared down the hall making out the slim figure of Yuuki Kurosu. ' _Shit,'_ he panicked. There were two ways this could end for him. One, he could just shut Katherine's door and get caught by Yuuki which would lead to a punishment from Kaname. Or two, he could hide in Katherine's room until Yuuki was gone and disappear before Katherine woke up. He went with option two.

Aidou stayed by the door quietly listening for Yuuki's footsteps. Each one made an echoing thud in his skull.

THUD. THUD. THUD.

He held his breath when he heard her stop walking in front of Katherine's door. For a second he was worried that she had seen him. Then his fears were extinguished when a door creaked open and shut again softly.

' _Yuuki's room is right across the hall from Katherine's,'_ Aidou made a mental note of that. That information might have stopped him from carrying Katherine to her room. It was going to be tricky for him to get out of there unseen.

Aidou waited patiently for about 30 seconds before trying to leave again. He cracked the door opened a little and peered through to Yuuki's door. There was really no movement that he could hear from the other room, but his hearing might be a bit off however because his heartbeat was drowning out the majority of the noise.

Deciding to risk it, Aidou stepped out into the hallway again. However the second he stepped foot outside of Katherine's room there was a click of someone turning a doorknob to Yuuki's room. He resisted the urge to groan as he slipped back into Katherine's room again. ' _Damn it,'_ he cursed. With the way everything was turning out heaven forbid if he ever did something selfless again.

Katherine stirred in her sleep her eyes squinting at the early morning sunshine glaring in her eyes. Her eyes took in the scene before her with curiosity. "What are you doing here?" She questioned sitting up.

Aidou's eyes darted to the girl who had just woken up from her nap; coma would be a better term for it. He was sitting on a wooden desk chair, quietly reading the book he had picked up from the library having given up trying to sneak out of the girls dorms after the fourth try. "I carried you," the blonde answered, "don't you remember?"

"Yes, but I thought you would've gone back to your dorm by now," she retorted still trying to figure out why he was there.

"Believe me I was planning on it, but I'm kind of trapped in here," he explained exasperated, "When I tried to leave Yuuki came back to her room and I had to hide in here. You never mentioned that she was across the hall from you. The second time it was Sayori Wakaba and the third was Yuuki again. After that ever other damn girl started waking up—"Katherine burst into a fit of laughter not being able to hold it in anymore.

"Oh that is priceless," she sighed shaking her head still laughing, "It sucks to be you." Once she was able to compose herself again she stared at him seriously. "You didn't do anything weird while I was sleeping did you?"

"No."

Katherine studied him for a second before yawning. Then she rubbed some of the crud from her eyes. ' _I must look a sight,'_ she pondered looking at Aidou feeling a bit self-conscious. She had never wanted anyone to see her when she first woke up. Now not only has that happened, but said person just happens to be the school 'idol'. "I'm choosing to believe you mostly because I have no evidence you accuse you otherwise," she told him twisting her hair up into a messy bun.

Aidou nodded. The atmosphere was awkward between them. "Your room is," he began looking around not really sure of how to describe it.

"Bare," Katherine suggested. He nodded again. "Yeah, I'm not really that into stuff. Also it's kind of hard to take a lot of things with me," she shrugged.

"I can imagine. Where exactly have you've been? Just curious."

"Where haven't I've been? But there's pictures over there," she pointed to the cork bulletin board. Aidou turned in the chair to look where Katherine was pointing, he hadn't had noticed the pictures before. He glanced over the pictures curiously.

There he saw the different stages of Katherine smiling back at him. There were popular landmarks behind her like the Taj Mahal, Mount Fuji, Big Ben, The Eiffel tower, the Statue of Liberty, and the Red square. There were some post cards for the Berliner Dom, the roman coliseum, and the Christ statue in Rio. There were also some other photos that were pretty funny, one was of Katherine looking as if she was about to eat a scorpion. Another one was a bus ad of a spa where there were the figures of two women in robes printed on the window to make it look like the passengers were those women. Katherine was sitting where her face was connected to this figure looking at her nails, while there was man sitting in the other one where the woman was stroking her leg up in the air.

Aidou assumed that that man was her uncle because he was a reoccurring figure in most of the pictures. He had raven black hair with light hazel eyes that looked almost gray. He had defined, chiseled jaw and was possibly one of the few humans that would be considered handsome. Aidou though couldn't shake the feeling that he had seen that face somewhere before, it was familiar to him somehow.

In the top right corner of the board there was one picture that wasn't like the rest. There were three figures in the picture, one of them being Katherine. She looked to be about five years old and the other two was a man and a woman. The woman's appearance was miraculously similar to Katherine's, especially if he compared that picture to the girl who was sitting on the bed not three feet away from him. All three of them were laughing, not looking at the camera, and Aidou could easily feel the love between them.

"Your parents?" Katherine looked to where Aidou was pointing seeing the picture of her with her parents at the kitchen table. She nodded. "What happened to them?" The question left his mouth before he could stop himself. He looked at Katherine worried that it may have upset her, "Umm… you don't have to answer if you don't want to."

Katherine waved off his worry though. "No it's fine," she told him, "I'm sure you were bound to ask sooner or later. It's what forensics specialist refer to as a 'cold case'. They're both still considered a missing person's report."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Katherine waved off his apology, "I was really too young to remember them anyways. They disappear about two months after that picture was taken. But then Luke took me in and all the crazy adventures started." Aidou glanced back at the picture his eyebrows scrunched together in thought. In all of these pictures Katherine was smiling just as happily as she was with her parents. He wondered how she could have remained so cheerful through everything; even now she didn't seem greatly affected by the subject of her parents.

"Well I should probably get ready for school," she threw the covers off her standing from the bed. Katherine looked down at the school uniform she was wearing with a frown, ' _It's wrinkled.'_ It was a good thing that she had another uniform jacket and a few more skirts and shirts so she wasn't really inconvenienced much. She walked over to the closet to rummage for another clean uniform. "Hey Aidou can you hand me a pair of socks?" She pointed to the top drawer of the dresser.

Aidou stood up from the chair setting down his book. He crossed over to the dresser and opened the top drawer looking for Katherine's socks. However upon opening said drawer he realized that not only were Katherine's sock in said drawer, but also were her underwear and bras. A sudden heat flowed to Aidou's face as he stared at a white lacey pair of panties with a matching bra.

Seeing these things his imagination couldn't help coming up with mental pictures of what Katherine would look like in these. He furiously shook his head trying to dispel those thoughts from his head. "Here," he said handing her a black pair of knee socks and quickly closing the drawer.

"Hey thanks, not just for the socks but for carrying me here last ni—"Katherine cut off studying Aidou's face. "What's wrong? You look all flushed are you sick?" She put her hand up to his forehead feeling for a fever. Under any other circumstances Aidou would have thought the question to be hilarious, the idea of a vampire getting sick… it was just ludicrous, but because of the reason his face was flushed he found that her question just annoyed him.

"I'm fine," Aidou brushed her palm away lightly.

Katherine stared at him curiously before something struck her down, metaphorically of course, like a giant anvil falling from the sky. She was Wyllie the coyote and Aidou was the cannon in which she shot out the anvil that she was aiming for the Roadrunner, but inevitably tilted up and backfired on her. There was obvious no way to salvage this situation. Might as well tell the truth that she momentarily forgot he was a guy and that her underwear and socks were kept in the same drawer.

"It just got really awkward in here," she observed laughing like a moron her face beat red.

Aidou watched her laughing with her face in her hand. She looked mortified. "You can say that again," he said.

"It just got really awkward in here," she repeated hoping to dispel some of the said awkwardness. It seemed to work when Aidou started to laugh. "I mean… damn it. This has got to be the most embarrassing things that has ever happened to me or at least the second most embarrassing thing. It's like a tie between this and the time I went bowling with Luke and knocked down all the people in the snack line with a bowling ball," she rambled.

The both of them laughed for a while which was just fine for the two of them. Anything to drown out the awkward silence was great. It also lightened the dark cloud that had fallen over them at the mention of Katherine's parents. "Well I'm definitely not going to ask you to hand me socks anymore," Katherine said her laughter dying down.

"Good plan," Aidou remarked with the utmost serious face he could muster. They stared at each other biting back laughter before they lost it again in a fit of hysteria.

"This is definitely staying between us. I swear you tell anyone else I will kick your ass," Katherine's threat had little effect. It didn't sound dangerous or terrifying at all. She had only really managed to get it out between breaths. Aidou nodded back in agreement not being able to respond with words. "I'm going to take a shower now, I'll be back," she informed him grabbing some underwear from the dresser then taking the rest of her clothes and shower stuff leaving him the room by himself.

When Katherine returned her room she was in a clean, wrinkle free uniform and her hair, mostly dry, was pulled up into a high ponytail. Aidou had placed himself back on the wooden desk chair and had picked back up 'The Screwtape Letters'. "What are you reading?" She asked curiously throwing her dirty uniform in the hamper. "Oh C.S. Lewis," she exclaimed excitedly when he showed her the cover. "Do you like it?"

"It's interesting. I like how he depicts human's from a demon's perspective," he retorted. Aidou glanced up at her watching as she made the bed tucking in the sheets so a quarter could bounce off of it. She did all this very quickly in about 30 seconds or less then began repacking her backpack.

"I didn't really do any homework yesterday. I also have a test I didn't study for in chem. today," she murmured to herself trailing off in thought. "Oh well, I guess I'll just have to wing it besides what's one failing mark?" she questioned brushing off her worries. Aidou observed her slightly baffled.

It amazed him that she could take the thought of failure so easily. That word hardly even in his vocabulary, but that might have something to do with differences in how they both were raised. "Okay I'm off," Katherine announced slipping her arms through the straps of her backpack, "Aidou you can hang out here until the girls leave for class, have fun with C.S. Lewis." With that said she was out the door not waiting for a response from the boy sitting in her dorm room and sprinting down the hall.

The rest of the day went somewhat normally for Katherine. She had managed to turn all her homework in on time finishing it up before the actual classes for that homework and her test, she was fairly certain that she at least passed which was perfectly fine with her as long as she didn't have to do it over again. The only weird thing was that Kageyama had been staring at her on occasion with this kind of scheming look in his eyes. Katherine chose to ignore that. However that night was when something extremely weird happed.

Katherine had gone to sleep around 9:30 like she did every night after skyping with Lucian. She was curled up under the duvet hugging the pillow to her chest, her golden waves pooled around her head in all these crazy swirls. She must have been sleeping for a couple of hours at least when covers were ripped off of her and she was pulled from the mattress onto the floor.

THUD.

"What the hell?" She yelled in surprise. Katherine's eyes flew open ready to fight off the intruders fearing that this might be another kidnapping. Though upon seeing who had woken her up she instantly relaxed. "What are you two doing in my room? More importantly how in the hell did you two get in my room?" She groaned with annoyance.

"Hiyoki picked your lock," Natsume answered pulling Katherine from the floor. The strawberry blonde was dressed in her heavy winter coat over her comic book Pajamas with a pair of black snow boots just thrown on her feet. Hiyoki was wearing a pair of warm sweatpants with a pair of sneakers and a long sleeve shirt under a baggy hoodie. "Hiyoki grab her brown uggs," Natsume order the other girl who was rummaging through Katherine's closet.

Katherine was still thoroughly confused. There was no logical explanation why both Hiyoki and Natsume were in her room at… she looked at the clock, ' _1:30 a.m.?!'_ "What are you two doing in my room at 1:30 in the morning?" She growled fighting to pull herself from Natsume's grip.

"We're hungry," Natsume whined.

"How is that my problem? It doesn't explain why you two woke me up," Katherine snapped angrily, "Let go of me."

Hiyoki came and slipped Katherine's feet in her uggs. "You promised to make us gumbo sometime," she added standing up.

"What?! I'm not making you guys gumbo at 1:30 in the morning! That takes like three hours to make which would make it 3:30 by the time we got to eat it! Besides the dining hall kitchen is closed, so just leave me alone and go back to your own damn room," she yelled enraged.

The brunette covered Katherine's mouth cutting off her protests. "The subject is resisting," she told Natsume.

"Looks as if we'll have to take radical procedures to ensure the assembly of the glorious substance often referred to as gumbo," the other girl observed. ' _What the hell? This isn't fucking Star Trek! Put me down damn it. I want to go back to sleep,'_ Katherine tried to yell telepathically at them since Hiyoki was still covering her mouth. The two girls didn't get this message from Katherine or they simply just chose to ignore it because seconds later they were dragging her from her room and down the hall.

Shiki was walking slowly down one of the outside corridors of the school campus when he heard a noise coming from his right by the tree line. He watched interestedly as three day class girls emerged from the forest. Two of them were carrying one which was struggling in their grasp. "Let me go damn it! I told you two, I wasn't going to make gumbo," the struggling girl yelled thoroughly pissed.

"But you promised," the strawberry blonde girl whined.

"I didn't promise JACK!"

Rima walked up to the suspecting vampire and placed her hand on his arm. "Senri class is starting," she informed him blankly, "What are you lo—" her eyes took in the scene taking place before her widening ever so slightly. All thoughts about going to class just flew out of her mind as she fumbled for the chocolate pocky box, fished one out for her and handed a second to Shiki.

"Quite, you don't want to alert the perfects," Hiyoki hissed to the struggling girl. Katherine was twisting, turning, clawing, biting, screaming, and any other thing a person could think of to get away. All three of the girls were unaware of the eyes watching them as they dragged Katherine to one of the home economics classrooms.

Aidou, Kain and Ruka strolled aimlessly down the corridor coming to a stop when they saw Shiki and Rima standing there like statues their attention entirely focused on something else. The two of them were munching on pocky as if it was popcorn and they were in a movie theater. The three newcomers wonder what could possibly be so riveting to catch Shiki's and Rima's attention, it had to be something really good as they had never witnessed the two so engrossed in something as to not notice another person's presence.

Aidou's blue eyes widened when he saw what had captured Rima's and Shiki's attention. "Wow," Kain murmured in befuddlement at the sight before unable to really say anything else. Ruka's mouth was slightly opened in shock as was Aidou's though for completely different reasons. Aidou was in shock because he actually knew one of those girls, whereas Ruka was in shock because she had never seen any of the day class students behave like this before.

"Ouch! She bit me," one of the girls exclaimed pulling her hand back away from the hostile girl in the middle. The loosened grip allowed said girl to wiggle out of their hands falling to the ground. The girl hit the ground with a bounce, flopping on her stomach than landing on her feet and sprinting away from the other two girls. "Natsume catch her," the girl that got bit order.

The five vampires watched as the strawberry blonde, Natsume, took off like a bullet after the other girl. She was fast, for a human, taking large leaps and bounds; the interesting thing though was that the girl she was chasing seemed even faster.

"What are all of you doing here?" Ichijou questioned running up to the group of vampire-like statues. "Kaname sent me to find all of you and… What in the world?" He trailed off seeing what everyone was staring at. "Someone explain please," he requested his emerald eyes widened to the size of saucers.

"Those two girls dragged the one that is running away out of bed I'm not quite sure why," Rima pointed at Natsume and Hiyoki.

"They wanted the other girl to cook them gumbo," Shiki muttered a little bit of amusement seeping into his otherwise robotic voice.

Ichijou pried his eyes away from the scene briefly and stared at Shiki. "They want her to cook them gumbo at 1:30 in the morning?" he questioned in surprise. Shiki nodded.

"They apparently picked the lock to her room and physically dragged her out of bed," Rima added taking out another chocolate pocky. All of the spectators winced when Natsume chucked one of her boots at Katherine hitting her in the back. The sudden impact knocked the girl down, flat on her face. This gave Natsume enough time to reach her and sling her over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"I should probably report this to Kaname," Ichijou muttered distractedly as they watched the girl slung over Natsume's shoulder beat her with her own shoe, "but I'm a little afraid to get in the way of them and their gumbo." The other vampires nodded in agreement.

Natsume's shoulder was digging into Katherine's stomach uncomfortably. "Natsume I swear if you don't put me down," she threatened dangerously, "I'm going to break something of yours. It might be inanimate or it might be a rib."

"I'd like to point out that ribs are kind of inanimate too Kit," Natsume quipped smugly.

"Just stop struggling," Hiyoki tried soothingly, "even if we let you down you wouldn't be able to get back in your room. You're locked out and unless you know how to pick locks—"

"I do."

"You'll just have to come with us," she finished ignoring the interruption.

Katherine groan going limp for a second. "So you're saying the sooner I make you two gumbo the sooner I can go back to sleep?" She asked feeling the swaying motions of Natsume walking.

"Precisely."

"Fine," Katherine groaned relenting, "let do this. Natsume you can put me down, I promise not to try and run. Obviously that wouldn't work again."

"You swear?"

"Natsume Abe and Hiyoki Kimura I hereby solemnly swear by the code of the slap bet that I shall not in any way, shape, or form try to escape, evade, or scheme my way away from you until I've successfully completed my task of cooking on large pot of gumbo, with both of your help of course. If I fail to keep this oath my punishment will be one slap from each of you that can be carried out anytime within the next week, however by cooking this gumbo you both have to swear on the code of the slap bet that you will not enter my room again by picking my lock. If you both still do then not only will you both get slapped, but our friendship will become null and void. Signed Katherine Taylor," she drawled jadedly.

"We agree to this oath," Natsume and Hiyoki answered simultaneously. Natsume set Katherine down on the ground again. The girl handed back the boot which Natsume took and slipped back on her foot. "You get really cranky when people wake you up," the blonde observed. Katherine just shrugged turning on her heels trudging to the home economics classrooms with Hiyoki and Natsume close on her tail.

After about 3 hours of cooking, the gumbo was done cooking. Katherine had done most of the actual cooking because Hiyoki and Natsume didn't have a clue to their way around the kitchen. She did however give them small jobs like stirring, chopping, and deveining the shrimp. It did take some time to explain was deveining the shrimp actually meant, but after she showed them how to do it and explained why it was necessary, they were both naturals.

Natsume brought the spoon up to her mouth and blew softly to cool it. "Oh my God," she moan after taking the first spoon full, "this is incredible Kit." Hiyoki nodded in agreement shoveling the gumbo into her mouth hungrily. Katherine ate about two bowls of the stuff even though she wasn't even close to hungry. The recipe that she used was Lucian's, it was her favorite, he would always make it when she was sad or just having a bad day. Rain or shine, fire and brimstone or rainbows and butterflies it always managed to make her smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Truthfully, I've never actually eaten gumbo. I kind of always wanted to try it, but I haven't. I looked up some gumbo recipes in Google to get inspiration for this chapter. And for those of you who may or may not have caught it I dropped a tiny smidgen of a hint about what Lucian is hiding from Katherine. It's really small, but I plan to expand on it later. 
> 
> Japanese:   
> Sayonara = Goodbye (used mainly between friends).


	9. One Blond-Haired, Blue-Eyed, Playboy Genius

**I Don't Date Vampires**  
Chapter 7  
_**"One Blond-haired, blue-eyed, Playboy Genius"** _

* * *

"Okay so I've reviewed the pieces for this week's paper and they're all extremely well done; snappy, to the point, and well researched," the teacher editor stated picking up a stack of papers, "You've put together an amazing group of writers Kageyama."

"Arigatou Sensei."

"I mean when you have a writer who can take a seemingly mundane and uninteresting subject like the renovation of the faculty housing and turn it into a bitter-sweet piece about how everyone and everything eventually becomes obsolete—" Kageyama's jaw clenched, "then you really have something. Miss Taylor I was touched," Katherine smiled humbly at the teacher.

"I owe it all to Kasumi," she said taking some pleasure in Kageyama's tensed posture. It had taken her awhile, but she finally did it. Katherine finally got the upper hand on the Class Rep.

The teacher editor stared at the brunette, "In the future I strongly suggesting giving Miss Taylor something with a little more meat to it, Kageyama."

Kageyama forced a smile, "Of course Sensei."

"Excellent," he commented joyously sliding the papers into his arms and standing from the plush brown leather computer chair. "Now I have to go grade some of these tests. I'll be leaving the rest to you, Kageyama, so get started on layout," he more or less ordered before exciting the newspaper room. The student immediately went to do as they were told.

Katherine slipped from her chair looking over the pictures that they had for the paper. She flipped through them, studying each one closely as to see which would best convey the pieces they were paired with. The pictures she was currently studying were for the recent sports competition for, ' _Lacrosse or is that field hockey? Whatever they have a ball and it's on a field,'_ she said to herself. Katherine didn't have much interest for sports; the only exceptions were hockey and football, however she didn't really pay attention to hockey and only really liked it because of the enforcers.

"Katherine?"

"Yes Kageyama?" The girl retorted politely not turning to look at him. Contrary to her tone her actions were what someone might consider rude. She had long since given up on trying to get alone with him and now they would only associate with each other when on the paper even then said association was limited.

"I just wanted to congratulate you. Zenzai zenzai. You must feel really proud."

"Well I'm not hiding when I pass a mirror," Katherine retorted. She was a little suspicious of Kageyama's tone like he was about to get the upper hand. Kageyama smiled making Katherine even more aware that she wasn't going to like whatever he was planning.

"It's my job as editor to ensure that our best writers are writing our best pieces. So I'm going to give you one of the best pieces," he told her.

Katherine wasn't buying a word he was saying. At no point in time had he ever complimented her on her writing and now he was. "Huh what's the catch?"

Kageyama ignored her comment, "It is an in-depth exposé on the night class student that was voted most popular. It needs to be hard hitting, uncensored, straight up facts."

This was a really big story. Katherine had been hearing about for weeks, all the day class girls had gone into a frenzy when the voting took place. This piece was a reveal to who had won and a personal interview with that person. She remembered Hiyoki and Natsume gushing about which member of the night class they were voting for, that lead to a heated debate about which was better Ichijou or Aidou. The girl had gone to the bookstore every day that week just to get away from all the discussions and almost-riots. "Wow," she muttered not really able to wrap her mind around where this conversation was going.

"Does that mean you'll do it?"

"Umm… yeah, of course," she answered shaking herself from her thoughts, "Thank you Kageyama." Her thank you was almost sincere. However the moment of pleasantness ended when Kageyama opened his mouth again.

"Excellent, so be sure to get that interview with Aidou Hanabusa in the next couple of days," he ordered.

"Aidou?" She questioned to make sure. She was unaware that he had won, though it did make sense. Aidou was easily the biggest playboy on campus his fan club was the biggest of the night class. It was all very logical.

"Yes, I know its short notice but I'd like to have this piece in the next issue. Is that a problem? I mean you of all people should be able to get the most in-depth story out of him," Katherine stared at him in utter bewilderment.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Kageyama's eyes bored into her studying her face. It was obvious to him that she had no idea what he was going on about. "The two of you are involved are you not? Clearly you must be if he comes to the girl's dormitory in the middle of the night, carrying you in his arms I might add," he lowered his voice so they wouldn't be overheard.

Katherine's face was completely blank. Kageyama mistook this for his assumption being right, however internally she was trying not to laugh. ' _He can't be serious? Me and Aidou? Hahahaha. That is ridiculous. It is more out there than pigs flying or a cow jumping over the moon. That is like a skeleton of a T-Rex coming to life in a museum then putting on a giant pink tutu and dancing swans lake and then falling in love with a duck,'_ she giggled to herself. There were no romantic feelings between them whatsoever. Aidou only saw her as something to relieve his boredom and Katherine only saw him as someone to tease for her own amusement.

' _Okay deep breath,'_ she told herself barely maintaining a straight face. Instead of doing the obvious which would be blushing and denying it, Katherine did the completely unexpected she just went along with it. "Okay, Kageyama I'll get you that interview and I'll be sure to get you something more than his favorite color," she patted his arm almost like they were good friends then excused herself early.

"Kyaaaaa! Kyaaaa!"

Katherine winced at the harsh noise that accosted her ears. ' _How could they think that screaming until their throats were raw was showing their admiration?'_ She wondered covering her ears. After that first time of seeing the night class Katherine had pretty much steered clear of all the fan girls, there were some times where she would sit up in the Sakura tree and observe things from a distance though. It was too loud for her, however now she was standing amongst them once again all because of that blonde playboy.

"Don't push," Yuuki yelled holding back the girls as best as she could. Katherine stared at the scene blankly shaking her head. She was currently standing by Zero because one, the girls were less rambunctious and two, it allowed her to stand at the front of them all so she could catch Aidou on the way to class.

"She's going to get pushed over again," she observed. The silver haired boy grunted in response. It had become something that Katherine had gotten used to. Neither her nor Zero talked much when they were together opting to take the time to just observe things quietly or play video games. It was when playing video games that Katherine could get Zero to talk, it was usually just arguments about how each other were playing the game, but he was talking nonetheless.

A chorus of screams broke out around them in waves as the large, iron gate to the moon dormitory opened with its usual flare. It felt like being at a rock concert with all the screaming, the only difference was that there were no drunk, stoned, or plastered people in the crowd and the majority of people were girls. ' _Maybe a boy band concert would describe it better,'_ she mused.

"IDOL-SEMPAI!"

The blonde vampire turned his head to the screaming fan girl and winked. The girl broke out into a piercing squeal grabbing her friend's arm excitedly. "Hanabusa," Kain rebuked shaking his head, "can't you at least show a little restraint?"

"What's the matter Akatsuki?" Aidou questioned his cousin. Unlike usual where Kain only seemed indifferent and bored today he almost seemed depressed. It was disheartening to watch for Aidou mostly because he was well aware of what was wrong with him. The answer was Ruka. In her infatuation with Kaname she had become blind to her surroundings, particularly Kain who was head over heels for her since they were children.

It was so blindly obvious to everyone else that they had even created a poll to if Ruka would ever figure it out, or if Kain was bound to remain in the friend zone for the rest of his supernatural life. Ruka and Kain were utterly unaware of this poll of course and Aidou had no intention of telling either of his cousins about it. "It's nothing don't worry about it Hanabusa," Kain sighed wearily. Aidou stared at his cousin concerned for a spilt second before launching back into his usual antics. It was best not to press the matter.

"Aidou," Katherine called to the blonde night class student calmly. The boy stopped and stared at the girl questioningly. He hadn't seen her with the day class girls since Valentine's Day and he wasn't expecting to see her standing amongst them again. "Can I speak with you privately?" She requested. Her tone was formal, almost bored, as if she had better things to be doing with her time than being surrounded by fan girls waiting for him. The girls behind her were looking at her in both shock and contempt, they had never seen her before and this girl, this outsider, had the nerve not only to request to speak with Idol sempai alone, but she made it sound like she didn't really care to be in his presence in the first place.

Aidou observed the girls behind Katherine who were glaring daggers at her backside, thoroughly amused. He thought it to be quite entertaining that she had managed to anger them so completely and she didn't really give a damn. "Hmm… sure," he drawled copying Katherine's bored yet formal tone. Katherine only rolled her eyes and gave a little shake of her head at his lark then walked away not waiting on him to follow her, she already knew that he would.

"What is this about Kit?" Aidou questioned the girl staring at the last of the sunrays disinterested. She seemed tired and bored, but mostly she just seemed sad. Her doe-like olive green eyes were filled with a longing that he knew quite well. She was homesick. He had never experienced the feeling himself, but he recognized that look in Ruka's eyes every once in a while when she was missing her family.

Katherine turned to the blonde boy standing in front of her glancing over his face blankly and then snapping back to the matter at hand. "I have good news," she started cheerily with a smile.

"What?"

"You remember that contest that the day class had with all the voting and riots?" She questioned.

"Yes," he replied not sure where this was going.

"Well, I'm here to inform you that you won."

Aidou stared confused, "Won what?"

The girl huffed dramatically as if he had just asked her why the sky was blue, Aidou knew she was really only teasing though. "The title of most beloved of course," was her sarcastic reply.

The blonde vampire arched a brow making that face that Katherine always found so amusing. "You're not making any sense," he told her plainly.

"I agree. That's why I'm just going to tell you why I needed to talk to you," she let out a sigh, "I need an interview. For the paper and before your ego gets any bigger I'm going to tell you that it going to be the main issue and if I get this right I won't have to go back to writing those stupid articles on concrete."

"You finally got a good story," he teased nudging her arm his cerulean eyes lighting up as they often would when he found something funny.

She laughed only slightly, "Yeah it's about time. However I need to get that interview with you by Friday, I was thinking maybe the day after tomorrow it's only a half day because the teachers have this grading period. I know this great burger place—"

"There's a burger place?" Aidou had been unaware that there was any place that sold burgers in that town. It didn't surprise him that Katherine had been able to find one; she always was able to sniff out the less frequented places like the bookstore.

Katherine nodded, "Mmh. They have the best French fries there, they're freshly cut, skins left on and covered in a layer of vegetable grease."

"That all sounded very appetizing until you mentioned the vegetable grease," he commented with a chuckle.

"Does that mean you'll do it?" Katherine pressed.

Aidou was quiet thinking it over. He had no issue with having lunch with Katherine; it would actually be fun. It would mean missing more sleep, though she had tried to be considerate and get the interview earlier in the day. "Yes. Who am I to decline a request from one of my adoring fans?"

"I'm not your fan," she deadpanned.

"You're in denial," he shrugged off her comment towering over her. Aidou had backed her into a tree trying to intimidate her, his blue eyes light and teasing as the bore into her annoyed, amused, green ones. He was daring her to deny it and like always Katherine could never refuse a dare.

"No I'm not. You need to watch that ego of yours or your head is bound to explode from your arrogance," she retorted sliding out from under his arm which was pressed firmly to the tree above her head. She had managed to get the last word in again. Once she was about three feet from where she had just been she turned around and laughed good naturedly, "I'll see you around Aidou." Katherine shook her head amused before walking back not bothering to turn and look at the boy face as she left.

Zero was suspicious of Aidou and Katherine. He didn't trust that arrogant vampire. And when Katherine had wanted to talk to him he feared that something was going on between the two. "What was that about?" He questioned when the girl returned.

Katherine only shrugged, "just school stuff. Nothing bad." Zero continued to study her face looking for any trace of a lie in what she had just said. He could find none. "Hey are we playing Call of Duty tonight before patrols?" She probed. It had kind of become a tradition with them. When Katherine wasn't studying, or at the bookstore, or sleeping and if Zero wasn't on patrols the two of them would play on the Xbox 360 until Zero had to leave.

The silver haired perfect only shrugged, "Sure. Why not?"

Katherine's face broke out into a smile, beaming. "Woo!" She cheered stretching her arms over her head. There were only a few confused glances as she did only a few stragglers there seeing as all the excitement was gone and the night class had already made it to the campus. After everyone was escorted back safely to their dorms Yuuki, Katherine and Zero went back to the Headmaster's cottage house for an hour of yelling and controller throwing.

"YOU CHEATER!" Yuuki screeched indignant throwing a floor pillow at Zero. He promptly ducked causing said pillow to whack Katherine in the face.

"Hey," she complained tossing the pillow back at Yuuki. This time the pillow hit Zero in the head. Both of the girls burst out into laughter at the annoyed expression on the boy's face. His mouth was pressed into a firm line and his liquid grey eyes were burning as they focused on the TV. He was trying hard not to get killed, both of the girls had already been eliminated from the game, Yuuki had been killed by Zero and Katherine had gotten killed when the pillow had hit her in the face.

The Headmaster came into the room; more like danced, and saw the three teens sitting in front of the Xbox. "Oh I didn't realize you were here Katherine," he stated surprised. Yuuki and Katherine had both stopped laughing long enough to look at the headmaster.

"Yes, I hope that's okay," Katherine said somewhat formally.

"Oh, it's perfectly alright. I'm just glad that my wonderful daughter and loving son have found such a nice friend. I was worried that Zero wouldn't be making any friends. He's always so brutish most people find him scary," the Headmaster leaned down to whisper the last part.

Katherine laughed at the comment. "I don't find Zero the least bit frightening," she informed the man.

Zero having just won the game and threw his controller at the man. "How many times have I told you that I'm not your son?!" The Headmaster dodged the controller easily.

"But Kiriyuu I didn't think you'd mind. Yuuki has no problems with me calling her my daughter," the Headmaster pouted annoying Zero even more.

Yuuki had stood up from her side of the Kotatsu getting ready to intervene. Katherine grabbed her arm and shot her a full puppy dog pout. "Yuuki don't just yet," she pleaded. The brunette sighed exasperated at her friend.

One of the reasons Katherine loved going over the Headmaster's house was because it was always so entertaining. The Headmaster was a complete loon and just funniest thing she had ever seen. And the arguments that he and Zero got into were just so comical, even better than Tom and Jerry. She just didn't want the argument to be stopped before it even began. Yuuki however was becoming tired with the child like behaviors of everyone around her. Zero yelling at the Headmaster angrily chucking pillows and the Headmaster, who is supposed to be the adult in this situation, is just egging him on. Katherine is watching the whole thing unfold doing nothing to stop it, secretly wishing that she had some popcorn, and Yuuki… well, poor Yuuki was at a loss of what to do.

Glancing up at the clock she saw that it is already 7:30, they were supposed to be on patrols 30 minutes ago. Yuuki panics grabbing Zero urgently, "Sorry Headmaster we have to go on patrols now," and forcibly drags him from the cottage. Katherine and the Headmaster are now the only ones left in the room.

"I guess I should be going too," she comments beginning to pick everything up.

The Headmaster is quiet as she does this, thinking very hard about something. The light glints of his glasses in an almost frightening way as he turns his head to Katherine, studying her. The man's personality had just made a complete 180 from what it was, now serious and controlled. "Katherine can you stay and have a cup of tea with me?" It doesn't sound so much as a request, but more of an order.

Katherine dropped the floor pillow next to the Kotatsu, "I don't really like tea."

"Then sit down and watch me drink it," the Headmaster waved off her comment, "I have something I need to discuss with you." Katherine looked confused, but followed him anyways into to the kitchen. The Headmaster motioned to a chair for her to sit down and she promptly obeyed.

' _I wonder what this is about. Could something have happened to Luke, or is my tuition not getting paid?_ ' she wondered nervously. "Is there something wrong? Is my tuition not getting paid? If you need to contact my uncle I have an emergency num—"

"No. No. It's nothing like that," the Headmaster interrupted setting down a porcelain tea cup in front of her. She was about to tell him again that she didn't like tea, but he filled her cup before she could get it out. "One sugar cube or two?" The Headmaster questioned.

"Three," she figured that if she was going to drink it, it might as well be sweet. The man dropped three sugar cubes into her tea with a plop and sat himself in the seat across from her. Katherine stared at her tea watching the sugar dissolve. She had the distinct impression that she was in trouble and being in trouble is bad enough, but being in trouble with the Headmaster could have significant consequences. "Headmaster—" she began.

"Kurosu," he interrupted again, "Headmaster always sounds so formal I'd prefer if you called me Kurosu."

"Oh, okay. Kurosu wha—" she got interrupted yet again.

"You and you uncle are close?" He asked quite out of the blue. The questioned to Katherine off guard, she had not been expecting it. She imagined that his first question would be 'Did you read the school policy?' or maybe 'Do you know why I called you here?'. But not it wasn't either of those instead he questioned her relationship with her uncle.

"Yes, he practically raised me," she answered taking a sip of her tea. ' _Gosh, that's awful,'_ she winced internally. The Headmaster had seen her little grimace at the tea and smiled amused, however before Katherine could see it he had already slipped back on his mask.

"And he taught you also?"

Katherine placed her cup back down on the table firmly. "Yes, basic math, reading, writing, science, and languages until I was old enough to understand the material by myself, then he got me textbooks," she was still unsure of where this conversation was going. The Headmaster was talking in riddles and it was frustrating her immensely.

"Then you're basically self-taught. That takes a lot of discipline and determination. And you have to be a smart girl to get at the top of the class in only two weeks after you transferred to this school. Surely you knew that someone would catch on—" This time it was Katherine's turn to interrupt.

"This is about me leaving campus?" Though it was a question it sounded more like a statement coming out of the girl's mouth. "I'm in trouble aren't I?" Again another statement, "Clearly I must be it stated strictly in the student handbook under section one subsection C—"

"You read it," the Headmaster was amazed that the one student who had actually read the handbook was the one to break the rules.

Katherine nodded, "Yes, if I'm going to break a rule I might as well know which rule I'm breaking."

"I don't really care about you leaving campus," the Headmaster informed her disinterested. He had already been aware that she had been doing it and as of yet it caused no problems or uproars. He didn't see why she needed to stop as long as the other student didn't start following her lead and that she got back at a decent time. "And before you ask this is about you leaving campus, but you're not in trouble," he told her plainly, "I just wanted to make sure that you knew what you were getting yourself into."

"You make it sound like the town is dangerous," she observed.

"The world is dangerous, however there are few who are aware of this fact," he let out a tired sigh, "Yuuki is unfortunately one of the many who is blind to the dangers around her."

"I can assure you Headm-Kurosu, that I'm not blind," Katherine had been so close to calling him Headmaster again, but caught herself quickly.

The Headmaster nodded approvingly, "Oh believe me I know. If your uncle raised you then you've met your fair share of dangers and know how to anticipate future ones. He wouldn't have left you where you couldn't defend yourself."

The girl frowned at how he talked about her uncle as if he knew him. It confused her greatly. "Umm, are you and my uncle acquaintances?" she questioned unsure. It would be a very logically explanation, how she was able to transfer in the middle of the year and how Lucian was willing to leave her in a strange place. He had to have known the Headmaster at some point and trusted him to look out for her, but it was all so confusing.

"The Headmaster didn't answer her question only smiled and gestured to her tea. "Your tea's getting cold," he warned teasingly. Katherine looked down at her cup grasping it feeling that it had indeed turned to ice. "I have some paper work I have to read," the Headmaster stood from his chair, "finish your tea and go back to your dorm, no wondering campus at midnight, m-kay."

Katherine's head shot up at that last comment. She was about to tell him that she was dragged there against her will, but he had already left the room closing the door firmly behind him. She stared down at her tea again, a voice in the back of her head hissed, ' _He never did answer your question.'_ "I know," she mumbled rubbing her fingers on the rim of the cup. Katherine didn't want to think about that, it was obvious that the man wasn't going to budge; he wasn't going to tell her anything. Though by the way that he smiled, it was kind of like he was confirming her suspicions without using words.

' _I'm just not going to think about this anymore,'_ she told herself firmly downing the tea cup in one shot as if it were actually a shot. She stood up from the chair and picked up her backpack slinging it over her shoulder and walked out of the room. Leaving behind both the tea cup and her suspicions on the table.

Two days passed fast enough and the teacher in-service day was a welcomed break for the students of Cross academy. They made plans to hang out, watch movies, and do a bunch of random things that they wouldn't be able to do had they had to go to class. Katherine and Aidou had met at the bookstore per usual and walked to the 'burger place'. Truthfully it wasn't a burger place more of a bar, that didn't card, but had great burgers, French fries, and milkshakes.

"Kit, this is a bar,"Aidou told the girl when they found a both table towards the back of the 'burger place' near a stain glass window. The red, green, purple, and blue tiles casted color tinted light on their faces.

"No," she corrected him, "it's a restaurant that just happens to have a bar and a pool table." Aidou gave her a look, "Okay fine it's a bar, but they have the best burgers here. Don't discriminate."

"I'm not discriminating," he said, "It's just strange is all. I never thought you'd be so comfortable in a bar."

"I've been to bars before."

"Really?"

"Yes, Amsterdam, Dublin, here. It's not that big of deal really," she shrugged out of her warm winter coat.

A waitress came and took their orders, being especially nice to the blonde and basically snubbing Katherine. Aidou was oblivious to the extra attention; he wasn't in school he had no reason to keep to his play boy image. The waitress wasn't put off by this in the slightest if anything it only made her more sickeningly sweet. "Okay so was that just you or was that the both of us?" Katherine blurted out once the waitress was out of ear shot.

"Why would that have been both of us?" Aidou questioned curiously. He didn't think that Katherine had done anything wrong; if she did he didn't notice it. He had been the one who was rude.

"I don't know. Sometimes I feel like I send off the wrong message and girls get this look on their face like they're about to murder me when I talk to them," she remarked jadedly.

"What do you say to them?" He asked.

"I don't know normal stuff I guess," she replied.

"Clearly it's not normal if they get that way when you talk to them. Here pretend I'm a girl for a second what do you say?" He suggested.

Katherine looked at him quizzically like he was insane. "Hi," she said confused.

"Okay how about this, 'I just came back from the gym.' Your turn," he gestured.

She laughed, "I haven't been to a gym in like never. My metabolism is so messed up. I can eat an entire gallon of cookie dough ice cream for a midnight snack and wake up having lost weight. It's so annoying."

Aidou arched an eyebrow. "Are you being serious or are you just kidding? I really can't tell," he questioned disbelievingly. If Katherine was being serious than she had some serious work to do, that almost made him want to kill her.

"A little of both," she admitted, "I would never say that out loud, but what I just said was true."

"Okay well, little tip," he started, "If you don't want girls to chase you through the streets with pitchforks and stick you head on a pike, never mention that's true."

"Noted. So how is it you're so in tune to what girls don't want to hear?" Katherine asked opening a notebook.

Aidou stared at her curiously, "Is this part of the interview?"

Katherine only shrugged, "Meh. Why not?"

"It's simple really. I have four sisters, if I haven't learned by now what to say and what not to say I'd probably be dead," he said simply.

Katherine chuckled, writing down his response in the notebook. "Can you tell me about your sisters? What are they like?"

"Well there's Amayah, who's the typical older sister. You know the type overprotective, caring, teasing at times, the responsible one. Then there's Ren, the black sheep. She's always traveling, shopping, life is one big party. Tsukiko is quiet, she's our parents little angle, never disobeys or questions anything she's told. Momiji is my youngest sister, she still a child, a bit of a tomboy. Our mother gets tired of trying to keep her clean, when all she wants to do is climb trees and swim in creeks—" Aidou started relaying his childhood with his sisters to the girl sitting across from him. Katherine listened intently writing down things she found funny or interesting. They were only interrupted briefly when the waitress came back with their food.

Aidou found that talking to Katherine was a piece of cake. She listened intently, gave her opinions on certain subjects and laughed at the funny bits. He liked her laugh. Unlike the girls who he had grown up with it wasn't subdued or quiet. It was brash, outgoing, Katherine laughed with her whole being. It was like it was too painful to keep the laughter in for even a second. The joy that was so clear on her face was refreshing to him; a breath of fresh mountain air. No one ever laughed like that where Aidou was from, it was frowned upon. A person was supposed to retain a certain level of dignity, but around Katherine he found that he could let his walls slip. She wouldn't judge him.

"That's got to be hands down the best childhood story I've ever heard. So what did your mother do when she found the lobsters in the bath tub?" Katherine managed to ask between breaths.

"Well as you can imagine she wasn't very happy with us. In fact she was actually really pissed. Naturally we all tried to pin the blame on Momiji, who was only three at the time—"

"It didn't work?"

Aidou shook his head, "No, if anything it only made it worse. Ever since then my mother has banned cooking lobster in our house, she doesn't want to take any more chances of it happening again."

"Your sister was quite the conservationist," she remarked offhandedly.

"Yes, she was," Aidou agreed.

Katherine dipped a fry into her strawberry milkshake and popped it in her mouth. Aidou was staring at her with a look of disgusted. "You want one," she offered teasingly. The vampire shook his head determined. "Come on Aidou, be adventurous. It's not like one little French fry will kill you," she said holding out a fry coated with the frothy milkshake, "Who knows you might even like it."

Aidou took the fry cautiously and stuck it in his mouth, chewing slowly. It was an interesting flavor, both sweet and salty. He didn't hate, but he didn't like it either. "It's okay," he mumbled.

"To be honest I didn't like it the first time either," Katherine remarked chewing on a plain fry. Aidou stared at her interested. "Luke was always eating his fries this way and the curious child that I was just couldn't resist trying one. I spat it out immediately, but then it sort of grew on me after a while. Now it's just become one of my many quirks," the girl shook her head laughing at a memory.

"What's so funny?"

"I was just thinking of the time I broke my hand," Aidou blinked surprised, "I guess now I need to tell you the whole story now, huh? Okay, but before I begin I don't remember much of it. A lot of it was just what other people told me what happened. It was a little over two years ago, Luke and I were making an overnight stop in Dublin—"

* * *

_**Why Lucian had wanted to stop inside an Irish Pub was beyond Katherine. She didn't get it at all. So as they waited patiently for their coffees ignoring the bustle of the other drunken patrons Katherine looked at everything around her, taking in all the details. "I'm going to go to the bathroom," she told Lucian. He nodded affirming that he had heard her before she slid from the stool and went into the bathroom.** _

_**She was only in there for about ten minutes before she returned back to her seat next to Lucian. The coffee was already waiting for her and she picked it up and took a sip. It burned her throat; it also had this funny taste to it that wasn't normal. "This tastes strange," she commented her nose scrunching up. Katherine took another sip. Though it was different she found that she couldn't stop drinking it. It was only after she had completely emptied the mug that she realized that that wasn't just coffee.** _

" _ **Lu-u-ke," she hiccupped, "I don't shynk thaat woos coffoee." Her words slurred together against her will. Lucian glanced over at the girl in alarm a picked up her mug and sniffed. His eyes shot up worried and grabbed the girl's face so he could examine her. Katherine eyes were glazed over as she tried desperately to focus them.**_

" _ **Crap," he cursed. Then everything went fuzzy muddling together as one. Speech, sight, taste, touch and smell all combined to the point where she didn't know up from down.**_

* * *

"I came to in the emergency room having my arm plastered up with a pineapple and a goat dressed up as a clown," Katherine finished.

"Wow," Aidou was actually kind of impressed at her story, "Remind me never to get you drunk."

"Oh believe, me after that night I vowed never to touch the stuff again. I don't need to remind you to do anything," she said this was determined conviction.

Aidou chuckled slightly, "It that the rest of your questions?"

"Actually I have one more," she muttered reading over the notebook which she had filled with information.

"Shoot."

"What do you want most from life? If you weren't burdened by family obligations, money, school or work, what is it you would do?" Katherine's question completely took him off guard. He had never considered what he had wanted in life. There were always expectations he was expected to live up to, he never questioned it. Aidou had never thought of what he had wanted only what his parents wanted, only what Kaname wanted.

"I don't know," he said because truthfully he had no idea.

Katherine only smiled and nodded understandingly, "That's okay. It wasn't for the article anyways. I was just curious."

* * *

CLICK. CLICK. CLICK.

* * *

The camera shutter closed every time he snapped a picture. The only thing on his mind was how please his master would be with his work. That girl, the one he was ordered to follow, was very ordinary. And even though he could not figure out what was so special about or why his master took any interest in an mundane human girl, he didn't question his orders. Not from a pureblood, no level E would ever question their pureblood master.

The man walked down the street against the crowds of people to a decapitated old warehouse. His footsteps echoed across the cement floor as he traveled around the large pillars. "Do you have the pictures?" A voice spoke out interrupting the silence. The level E turned seeing a young boy emerge from the shadows. His auburn hair and multicolored eyes, one red and one blue, bored into the man with vengeance and cruelty. The man dare not speak only bowing down humbly offering the pictures to the child.

Red and blue studied the pictures intently. A reoccurring figure in each of them, olive green eyes and golden brown hair. "This is good you know what to do now," he mumbled turning his gaze back on the man.

"Yes, master Rido," the level E said almost robotically, "bring the girl to you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt like this plot was moving to slow for my liking, in my mind I'm already at the end and pondering a prequel/sequel maybe both. So for the last bit of this chapter I just kind of popped it in the microwave, sort of speak. I know that I haven't really answered any of the questions I've been dropping or the hints and this last bit with Rido... yep I most definitely just screwed with your mind. I promise that all these questions will be answered, it just I can't give much away right now it'll spoil the ending of the story. Just be prepared for a big plot twist.
> 
> Zenzai. Zenzai= congratulations/ bravo.


	10. Delicious Incentive

**I Don't Date Vampires**  
 **Chapter 8**  
_**"Delicious Incentive"** _

* * *

"Beginning today, I ,Yagari Toga, will be taking over your ethic's class. I look forward to working with all of you."

Yuuki blinked in surprise, ' _A new ethic's teacher?'_ She hadn't heard about a new teacher, which was especially strange considering that her adoptive father was the headmaster of the school.

"He's quite handsome, isn't he?" Yori commented.

Yuuki turned and stared at her friend questioningly then looked at the teacher again. In truth he didn't seem much like a teacher. He was too… peculiar. Yuuki didn't feel like that was the right word to describe him so she tried to think of another one, with no success. It was plain to see that Yagari Toga was not an average teacher.

Firstly, he was wearing an eye patch, a literal eye patch. It was both intriguing and frightening all at the same time. And his eyes or eye, were this ice blue, far too cunning and harsh for a teacher. It was the eyes of someone who had lost faith in the good of humanity and Yuuki realized with a sinking heart it was the same glimmer that Zero had in his eyes. He also spoke in a very bland fashion. Yuuki could have sworn that he didn't even want to be there to begin with.

"Do any of you have any questions? If so ask them now I don't like when people interrupt," Yagari placed his teaching curriculum on the desk. As soon as he asked that question a dozen or so hands shot up eagerly. He pointed to one of the girls in the fourth row.

"Sensei, are you single?"

' _Talk about an inappropriate question,'_ Yagari thought inwardly. "Yes," he answered plainly.

"Do you have a lover?"

"You lot like those type of questions, don't you?" He remarked sarcastically. The rest of the students laughed in response. It was then that the ice had been broken and questions started to flow in without any form of order. A lot of it was incomprehensible gibberish.

The door to the classroom opened suddenly cutting off all of the students. Everyone was silent staring at the latecomer as if she had just murdered someone. "Gomenizai Sensei," she bowed politely with a nervous smile, "I'm just going to go take my seat now." Yagari studied the girl interested, her golden brown waves and olive green eyes were familiar to him. ' _No that's impossible,'_ he told himself as he watched her take a seat next to Zero. The other student got over the interruption quickly launching back into their questions.

Yuuki looked back at the desk behind them just noticing Zero's face. He was in shock. Katherine was glancing at him and back at the teacher again and again. She had a puzzled expression and when her and Yuuki made eye contact they both seemed to be thinking the same thing, ' _What the hell?'_

"That patch," Shino's voice broke though the girls' attention, "is that some kind of fashion trend?" Everyone was silent in the classroom as they waited for him to answer. They had all seen the patch, but were unsure of how to go about asking about it. Yagari looked over to where Katherine was sitting his eyes flickering over her before settling on Zero. She immediately noticed this along with both Yuuki and Yori.

Suddenly Zero stood from his seat and walked out of the classroom. Katherine stared at her seatmate worriedly; however unlike Yuuki she didn't get up and run after him. No, if Yuuki knew anything she would have just let him walk out. The boy needed time to process, process what, Katherine wasn't completely sure, but she knew that he needed to be by himself.

When the two had left the classroom Yagari answered Shino's question. "This was payment for a certain life," his voice rang ominously as the grave meaning of his words sunk in for all the students. That ice blue eye glanced over at Katherine again and she stared back evenly until Yagari broke eye contact and continued on with the class.

It was a sunny march afternoon on the campus of Cross Academy. Yagari stared out the glass pane window of the headmaster's office watching the scenery absentmindedly. Everything was getting new life. The trees budding, the grass becoming greener and the cold winter reseeding into the pleasant early spring. "Is there something bothering you?" The headmaster glanced up from his paperwork and studied the vampire hunter curiously.

Silence was his only reply. Yagari hadn't even heard the man's question his thoughts a thousand miles away and twenty years into the past.

* * *

" _ **Toga," a feminine voice called in greeting. Yagari was taken by surprise by the sudden embrace as he was knocked slightly off balance. "I've missed you!"**_

_**Yagari hugged the woman back warmly with a chuckle, "Jessie why do you always try to knock me off balance when you see me?" The woman released him from her embrace and laughed joyously flipping her golden brown hair over her shoulder, while her olive green eyes lit up with mirth.** _

" _ **How was your flight? You must be tired. I was pretty tired myself when I first moved here. It took me awhile to get used to the time change," she said ignoring his pervious question.**_

" _ **My flight was long. Where is Evan?" Yagari responded looking around the terminal for his old childhood friend.**_

" _ **He couldn't come. Work came up, you know how it is."**_

" _ **I still have trouble believing that that airhead is getting married this weekend," Yagari shook his head disbelievingly.**_

_**The woman only laughed at his comment. "Well, you better believe it. After all we didn't fly you out to California for nothing Mr. Bestman. And as the bride I reserve the right to be a raging lunatic and boss you around," Yagari scoffed at that.** _

" _ **As if you could ever be a bride-zillia. Really Jessica you know as well as I do that you're far too nice for that."**_

* * *

"That girl what's her name?" Yagari questioned still staring out the window.

The headmaster glanced up, "Which girl?"

"The one in my ethic's class who sit next to Zero," Yagari clarified.

"Oh Katherine."

Yagari brows scrunched together in thought. ' _Katherine?'_

* * *

" _ **I want you to meet her."**_

" _ **Meet who?" Yagari questioned reading over some papers. He hadn't been paying attention to the conversation. He glanced up from the papers staring at his friend in question. The man across from him huffed agitated his caramel eyes narrowing as they would when he was annoyed.**_

" _ **Haven't you been listening to anything I've been saying?" He demanded. "Jessica, I want you to meet Jessica."**_

" _ **Oh right, the loner girl," Yagari returned back to his work.**_

" _ **She's not a loner Toga, she just doesn't like crowds. Besides she's much more fun once you get to know her," Evan defended.**_

_**Yagari relented, it was clear he wasn't going to be getting any work done until he agreed, "Fine. I'll meet your girlfriend."** _

* * *

Yagari turned from the window and faced Kurosu seriously. "Does she have any relation to them?" He didn't need to clarify who 'them' were the headmaster was fully aware of whom he was referring.

"Her last name is Taylor. I highly doubt it, besides you of all people know those two never had children," The conversation dropped dead at that point. Yagari was still mauling over everything, while Kurosu buried himself in a stack of paperwork. Something didn't sit well with him, that girl Katherine, she reminded him too much of… ' _It's impossible,'_ He reminded himself one last time.

* * *

Katherine hummed absentmindedly as she stirred the mixture. She was dressed in a white apron over her black school uniform and her jacket that she had thrown off to the side as to not get flour on it. She was looking, without any better way of putting it, very domestic. It was understandable baking cakes did tend to have that effect on people.

She grabbed a square cake pan and scooped the gooey batter into it with a spatula. "When you see my face hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell. When you walk my way hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell. If you find a man that's worth a damn and treats you well, then he's a fool you're just as well. Hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell," Katherine sung along with her iPod not paying attention to anything around her.

"Now you'll never see what you've done to me. You can take back your memories they're no good to me. And here's all your lies. You can't look me in the eyes, with that sad, sad, look that you wear so well," she pushed the cake pan into the oven setting the timer. Turning around she froze seeing someone standing in the doorway and took out her headphones.

Kaname stared at the girl curiously. She had flour on her face and hands. Her white shelves were rolled up to her elbows and her jacket was discarded on an empty counter. It surprised him to find a day class student in the home Ec. kitchens long after the classes had switched over. "What are you doing?" He questioned. It was his job as dorm leader to ensure that no day class student were harmed by vampires and this girl was just unconsciously putting herself in danger.

Katherine looked around her at the dirty utensils, measuring cups, and bowls. She wiped her hands on the apron and frowned before answering. "Baking a cake," she stated plainly. There was a brief moment of silence. "You're Kaname?"

"Yes, and you are?"

"In a lot of trouble I'm guessing, so I'm not going to give you my name," Katherine replied. She began cleaning up the kitchen figuring it wasn't right to leave everything a mess. Kaname came into the room and took a seat at the counter watching her work.

"Is there a reason you're baking a cake 12:30 in the morning?" He questioned.

Katherine was silent for a minute mauling over his question. "Well, I couldn't sleep and I wanted cake, so I wound up here," she answered without looking at him too focused on scrubbing dishes. Silence again. She could feel his eyes boring into her back from where he sat and she wasn't exactly sure of how to handle it. Yuuki had often mentioned Kaname to her and in turn Katherine had teased Yuuki about her crush, but now that he was siting not ten feet away she realized he was actually quite intimidating.

"So on a scale of one to ten, how much trouble am I in?" She asked a hint of sarcasm seeping into her voice.

Kaname stared at her curiously as she had turned around and was gazing at him in an amused manner. She wasn't like the other day class students. The girls would sneak on campus to take pictures of the night class just to have them confiscated, however this girl snuck onto campus to bake a cake because she just wanted cake. "That depends. How many times have you done this?" Kaname inquired.

"Umm… I'm going to wait for my lawyer to answer your questions," she responded.

Kaname bit back a smile at her quip. She was still in trouble, yet it was amusing how she was trying to joke her way out of it. "That's fine, but can I ask who's going to be you legal representation?"

Katherine blinked in surprise. She had been expecting him to go along with the bit. The few times that she had glimpsed the night class president he was stoic, cold, detached, a lot like Zero in a way. He would only smile towards Yuuki, while everyone else got a slight twist upward from his mouth. She didn't think he could make jokes. "John Dewy. He works at the firm of Dewy, Cheatem, and Howe," Katherine retorted.

"I heard that firm closed for embezzlement," Kaname shot back.

They both stared at each other, unblinking. There was this unspoken challenge between them, daring each other to respond. Then the tension broke when Katherine laughed, "Gomen. I have nothing to say to that." She took a deep breath to calm herself before she spoke again. "I didn't think you could be that funny. Although clearly I'm not talking myself out this."

"No you're not," Kaname agreed.

Katherine nodded in understanding. "Okay how bout this, You count to ten, if I make off of campus by the time you're done counting you let me go and I can promise you'll never see me again," Katherine suggested hopefully. She had her fingers crossed praying that he would accept. Though she didn't like running, she knew that when push came to shove she could really book it.

"And what happens if I catch you?"

"Then you can take me to the headmaster and give me any punishment you see fit, also you get to keep the cake either way," she nodded to the oven where the cake was baking. It was coming along nicely; too bad she wouldn't be eating it. It was one of Lucian's recipes. Katherine mouth began to water just thinking about how good it would be.

Kaname thought her proposel over carefully. "So you're basically bribing me?" He questioned a brow arched in hidden amusement.

"Not a bribe, providing delicious incentive."

"Your cooking's really that great?"

Katherine thought about it, there wasn't anything to think about. "When you taste it you'll hear the hallelujah chorus," she told him firmly.

Kaname sighed. He figured, ' _what harm could it do?_ ' This girl had obviously not seen anyone, it was only really by chance that he had come across her and that cake did smell exceptionally good. "One," he started counting. Katherine took to that sign immediately and grabbed her jacket having tossed off the apron. She was out the door and half way out of the build by the time he got to five.

"Ten," the pureblood finished. The girl was long gone and although Kaname could have easily caught up with her he reckoned that would pretty much be cheating. It would also expose the secret that he had desperately tried to hide from the day class student. No, he would let her go, but if he saw her again he won't be so lenient.

DING.

The kitchen time went off. Kaname grabbed a pot holder and opened the oven. The heat and smell of the cake accosted his face as he wedged open the door. He slipped the pan out and placed it the cooling rack. It was a red velvet cake, which was pretty ironic to him considering that it was one of his favorites.

The only thing that crossed his mind as he tasted the cake, after it had cooled of course, was that Katherine hadn't been lying about her cooking.

Once Katherine had gotten back to her dorm room she stripped out of her clothes and into a tank top and soft flannel shorts. With the warmer weather setting in she could sleep with her windows open. The fresh air always helped her sleep. It was something about the combination of cold air and warm blanks that knocked her out cold; not that she had any trouble sleeping otherwise, it was just without the window opened her nose tended to get a little stuffy.

She slipped under the covers a little bummed. She didn't end up getting her cake and her stomach let out a low grumble in protest. ' _Stupid School rules,'_ she cursed snuggling down into the bed, ' _That night class president better like my cake, it was his fault I didn't get to eat it.'_ Katherine fell asleep after that knowing that the next morning she was going to be a bottomless pit.

* * *

A few days later Katherine was browsing the school library. The last time she was there she had seen some pretty interesting stuffy, but didn't get a chance to skim through them. Now that it was her free period she decided to explore the volumes a little. She wondered the shelves towards the back of the library. The cobwebs and dust on a lot of the books signaled that not many people visited this section. Katherine picked one of the books up and opened it. A big dust cloud went into the air causing her to cough.

THUMP.

Katherine glanced up at the sound. A book had fallen off the shelf on the other side when she had picked up the book in her hands. The girl walked around the shelf and scooped the book from the ground. It was lying face down and Katherine had picked it up still opened. Her fingers ran over the soft, worn, leather cover as she read was written.

'I fear my time is running out. I don't know how much longer I can stand. With each passing day I lose a little more of myself. The blackouts are getting worse and I can't remember what I did or what happened. I come too coated in strangers' blood, sometimes surrounded by bodies; sometimes I'm alone in the woods. I have chosen to isolate myself from society, maybe by doing so I can hope to find a cure for this madness that has descended upon me. However I know the chances of a cure are slim, it's only a matter of time before I succumb to the hunger I try so desperately to keep at bay. I pray that the souls of those I have hurt find peace and then maybe, just maybe, I might be spared from the depths of hell.'

It was a journal that much was obvious. Katherine skimmed her eyes over the page again and frowned. There were so many questions that that one entry brought to mind. She read the date at the top of the page, ' _March 8, 1923.'_ Ironically that was today's date. She glanced around the shelves and then back at the journal in her hands. ' _Yep, this is the one I'm going to read,'_ she decided.

With her new found discovery in her hands she walked out of the library to head back to her dorm. She continued to read the next page of the journal as she walked.

'The dreams are becoming more and more intense. I have trouble separating reality from my memories. My mind, which I had previously prided myself on being stable and sound, is no longer as it was. I feel as if my thoughts are slowly crumbling, along with everything around me. Oh, how cruel my fate must be to allow such tragic circumstances to befall me. Sometimes I reckon the universe is having a laugh at my expense or that maybe I'm in some horrible nightmare. But unlike my nightmare I can't escape, the only escape for me is the sweet embrace of death. I know now that is the only thing that can save me, but I still hold on to hope that I will find a cure for the next person that is unfortunate as me to have fate smite them.'

"Oaf," Katherine was unsure of what had happened, one minute she had been reading and the next she had been falling backwards, but was stopped by someone wrapping an arm around her waist. The book she had been reading had wound up on the ground and she stared at it before she looked up into a familiar pair of cerulean irises. "We have to stop meeting like this," Aidou commented removing his arm from around the girl.

"Ha," she retorted dryly bending down to pick up the journal.

"Has anyone ever told you it's dangerous to walk and read at the same time?" The blonde vampire questioned amused with a chuckle.

"Yeah, well I'm a thrill seeker," she responded. Katherine stared at him curiously and noted that it was too early for the night class to be out and the fact that he wasn't wearing his uniform. Instead he was dressed 'smartly' as he usually tended to be a crisp button down shirt and a lose neck tie under a light sweater vest or something of the sort. "What are you doing here?" She questioned with mild interest.

"I was just running an errand. I had to pick up a present for Ichijou," he informed her nonchalantly.

"Really?"

"Yeah it's Ichijou's birthday, and since classes are canceled tonight he was planning on throwing a big party."

"Oh well, that explains a lot. Tell Ichijou I said Happy Birthday," Katherine smiled cheerily.

Aidou's eyes got that amused spark in them. "Why don't you come and tell him yourself. I'm sure he'd rather hear it from you than from me," he suggested.

Katherine shook her head, "I'm not big on parties. But," she dug into her jacket pocket, "you can give him this." She placed a small wrapped package in the palm of his. Aidou smiled when he saw that it was a candy bracelet. "I was planning on eating it, but what the hell I have another one in my room,"

"That's very generous of you," he remarked sarcastically.

"Yeah, yeah I'm a saint," Katherine shot back with equal sarcasm. "Save me a piece of cake," she called over her shoulder none to politely as she walked away from him.

Aidou observed her as she picked up the book and began reading again. She apparently didn't learn her lesson. He looked down at the wrapper in his hand and smiled shaking his head amused then slipping the 'gift' into his pants pocket. The blonde then continued walking back to the night class dormitory leaving an observant hunter in his wake.

Once Katherine got to her dorm room she quickly changed out of her school uniform and slipped into some comfortable, red and black, flannel shorts with a silky black ribbon tied in the front. She slipped a black tank top over her head and then curled up on her bed and read.

She must have fallen asleep sometime while she was reading. The sudden loud beeping of her alarm clock signaled to her it was the start of a new day. Katherine rolled over groggily and hit the off switch and rubbed her eyes tiredly. Her eyes opened slowly focusing on something sitting on her desk that was there when she had fallen asleep.

Upon closer inspection she realized it was a foil wrapped plate, more specifically it was the piece of cake she had told Aidou to save for her. She had no idea how he managed to get in her room with it being on the fourth floor, but he did. There was something taped to the top of the foil, a note, and Katherine opened it and read.

'Thank you for your gift. I very much enjoyed it. -Ichijou, Takuma'

She smiled shaking her head. "Thank you for the cake," the words came out mumbled, somewhat mockingly, as she took the foil off and took a bite not caring that she was using her hands. "It's delicious."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sure all of you are curious as to why Rido wants Katherine... Unfortunately I didn't tell you guys this in this chapter *sighs* but I plan on expanding on it in the next one. Something I did expand on however was, you may or may not have caught this, Kit's parents. Now I think that what I wrote might have brought up more questions than it may have answered, but all these questions will be answered at a later date. I really like the little scene between Kaname and Katherine in this chapter, I had some fun writing it.
> 
> Song List:  
> All American Rejects - Gives You Hell


	11. A Day in Hell

**I Don't Date Vampires**  
Chapter 9  
_**"A Day in Hell"** _

* * *

At the end of March the Headmaster thought it would be fun to have an off campus retreat for all the students, night class included. His excuse was something along the lines of "The two classes need to better understand each other," it was a bunch of bull crap in Zero's opinion. The silver haired perfect of course opposed this idea vehemently. Yuuki was looking forward to getting away and thought that the trip was a great idea. So just as usual the Headmaster ignored Zero's protests and arranged for the entire school to go on a giant camping trip.

Fun? No, it wasn't. At least not for one Katherine Taylor and a bus full of day class students. And thus began the girl's day in hell.

"Okay, everyone please go to your assigned buses," the Headmaster order a little too enthusiastically for 6:30 in the morning.

Katherine let out a tired yawn as she waited in line. "What bus are you on?" Natsume asked her.

She glanced down at the slip of paper that was handed out to all the students, "ten. What about you?"

"Me and Hiyoki are both on bus 23," she answered glumly. Katherine let out another tired yawn not really caring about it. It didn't really matter which bus she was on. She was just planning on listening to her IPod and reading the journal she had found in the school library. She had started to read it from the beginning and was quite fascinated by it.

Katherine waved to Yori, Yuuki, Natsume and Hiyoki as she boarded her bus. The bus driver was a tall man in his late thirties with dark brown hair and coal black eyes. They both looked at each other for a second before Katherine snapped out of her trance and moved to the back of the bus. She had the sinking suspicion that she had seen those eyes somewhere before. Cold, cruel, black, soulless eyes…

She took a seat towards the back of the bus by the window and removed her duffel bag from her shoulder and slid it under her seat. Digging into the pocket of her overly large navy blue hoodie, well technically Lucian's large navy blue hoodie that she had taken with her before she came to Japan, she found her IPod and inserted the earphones into her ears. She then found the journal in her bag and snuggled into the seat, making herself comfortable for the long four hour drive to the 'camp'.

_(Travelling the road, less known is where I want to be. My compass directing, electing, an open road with golden trees.)_

'She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Hair gold as the sunrays, eyes blue as sapphires and skin as soft and delicate as water lilies. A goddess that's what she was. I should have known that I never stood a chance, that something that beautiful was just as toxic. A succubus, sucking the life out of men taking away their chances of a future that was what she was. I didn't realize this until it was too late.'

_(I see the old man that I passed on the road in his distress. As I turned to go I hear him say, "Son stay. Have a drink, I'll pay." Let bygones be gone, it's all in the past, we raise a glass. Please don't be a stranger in my place.)_

'I remember when I was a child and my mother would take me to church. I was forced to sit on those hard pews for hours until my bum went numb from the lack of movement. The preacher would speak until his voice went hoarse. He would tech on the life of Christ and beg the congregation to 'repent for the end drew nigh'. I remember vividly his warnings on demons. It was strange that I didn't believe in those demons until I myself had become one.'

Katherine turned the page running her hands across a sketch. She had studied this sketch time and again finding it both beautiful and terrifying at the same time. She had figured out that it was a profile view of the woman he had described in one of his entries. The light colored hair hung around her face in perfect curls and soft, delicate, yet strong regal features of her face. Her eyes held a look of cruelty, but they were also pained. She held her head high as if she were some form of royalty. It was obvious why this author had been so entranced by her, she was stunning. If a succubus existed it would have looked exactly like this. ' _She kind of reminds me of Aidou,'_ Katherine pondered noticing the familiar shape of the nose.

The girl looked up out the window as the bus turned down a different road. ' _Wait a minute. Aren't we going the wrong way?'_ She looked around her to see if anyone else had noticed the change in direction. She noticed Shino and Kageyama glancing around confused like she was. Katherine stared up at the front of the bus growing alarmed. The bus driver's coal eyes glanced up into the review mirror at Katherine and she froze. ' _Those eyes,'_ an image flashed in her mind the cruel laugh and voice as harsh as nails.

" _ **She's quite a pretty girl ain't she? I like this one she's got fire."**_

' _RAT!'_ Katherine almost let out a scream at the realization. Her heartbeat had increased as the adrenaline rush kicked in. ' _Okay Katherine calm down. Remember what Lucian told you, "stay calm and everything will be alright," I just have to find a way out of this.'_

Kageyama stood up from his seat and moved to inform the bus drive that he was going the wrong way. "Excuse me sir, but you've made a wrong turn," he said politely, "I believe we were supposed to keep on the main road."

"Sit down," his voice came out harsh and cruel. There was no denying it now he was a rat. Kageyama started to respond confused but was cut off when the man turned to him with 9mm pistol. "Sit down boy, I'm not going to tell you again," for extra emphasis he fired shattering one of the bus windows. Screams broke out from several of the girls at that point as the students cowered in their seats. This seemed to anger the man as he addressed the rest of the buses occupants. "Shut up all of you. Just sit down and be quiet. Go back to reading your books and listening to your music and everything will be fine, for now. I will shoot whoever decides to play hero so don't get any bright ideas, we're almost there," he shouted furiously.

Kageyama had visibly paled as he stumbled back to go take a seat. "Boy," the rat called, "sit there," he pointed to the seat closest to the driver's seat. Kageyama was in no place to disobey his orders and sat down quickly sliding as far away from him as possible.

There were quiet sobs as one of the girls was being soothed by her friend. Shards of glass from the window had sliced her cheek. Katherine was processing everything around her carefully looking for a way out of this situation. She started weighing the odds of just confronting him considering the hostages and the gun the odds weren't in her favor. ' _May the odds be ever in your favor. No, now is not the time,'_ she berated herself for thinking of that line at a time like this. She would need to gather some information, look for a weakness.

"Why are you doing this?" Shino questioned calmly. ' _Brave girl,'_ Katherine thought a little impressed by her composure. The man ignored her question though not answering her. She hesitated before trying another one, "What do you want? If its money several of our parent are extremely wealthy. They wouldn't hesitate to pay a ransom. Please just let us go," she begged. Katherine had noticed that when she had asked what he wanted the rat had glanced back at her through the mirror, ' _Wait what?'_

"She's bleeding," one of the other girls cried gathering her courage. Her friend had a cut across her cheek; it wasn't deep or really that major.

The rat was becoming increasingly frustrated at the humans around him. "No more questions," he yelled pointing the gun at Kageyama, "Anymore questions from anyone and I'll shoot him." Kageyama swallowed thickly, eyes wide as saucers behind his glasses.

' _Oh screw it,'_ Katherine internally cursed standing up from her seat. She was taking a chance, a big one. Hopefully she wasn't wrong in her assumption that it was her that the rat wanted. If she was wrong it would not only cost her her life, but possibly the lives of everyone else on the bus.

"Sit down!" Katherine fought the urge to flinch as the barrel of the gun was turned on her. She kept her face neutral as she walked up to the front of the bus, careful to mask her fear.

"You won't shoot," She said deathly calm only standing within two feet of the rat, "I'll go with you willingly. Just let the rest of them go unharmed." The rat opened his mouth to respond a look of confusion spreading across his face. Katherine saw an opening at that point and swiftly before anyone else could blink boxed him in the face. The bus swerved at the impact and several girls screamed again as they crouched down in their seats. It was then that a fight began between her and the rat.

The rat hit her in the side of the head with the butt of the gun. The impact of the blow threw her off slightly were she barely dodged the next blow to her stomach. Katherine grabbed his wrist with the gun and twisted it up breaking his wrist with a snap. The gun fired through the metal ceiling of the bus. She maneuvered stealthily and aimed a kick to the back of his knee and with another snap she knew that she had definitely broke something else.

He screamed in both pain and rage. He threw a strong fist to her right side that she wasn't able to dodge in time. She grunted in pain at the impact, but managed to evade another hit to the side of her head from the gun. ' _Dodge, block, dodge, punch,'_ she repeated to herself. On the punch she had managed to hit him square in the face with her fist.

" You little bitch," he hissed as blood trickled down from his nose, "you're going to pay for that."

Katherine didn't reply or give him a chance to say anything more before she wrenched the gun from his grasp breaking a couple of fingers in the process and spun him to the door. She quickly pulled the lever and kicked him in the stomach sending him stumbling almost falling out of the bus all together. The rat managed to grab hold of the railing and pull himself back in.

* * *

CLICK

* * *

The rat's eyes widened at the girl who now had the gun aimed at his head. Katherine's face was in a determined scowl, her olive eyes burned with anger and hatred. Blood oozed from her forehead where she had been hit the gun and matted in her golden brown hair. He knew that she was going to pull the trigger; there was no hesitation in her eyes, not the briefest flicker of doubt.

Katherine only paused a second looking into the rat's cold eyes before her fingers wrapped around the trigger and—

* * *

BAM

* * *

The gun jolted in her hands as she fired. She had hit her mark right between the eyes and watched as he fell out of the bus onto the road rolling at the momentum the bus had been traveling. Katherine didn't have much time to dwell on what she had just done. The whole fight as taken place in only the course of about 30 seconds and now there was another problem that she had forgotten to take into account. No bus driver meant no one was driving the bus.

She quickly closed the door and took a seat behind the wheel. ' _How do you drive this alien spaceship,'_ she tried to remain calm looking over the dials and gear shift. ' _Stick shift,'_ she noted looking up out the window. The bus was heading straight for a drop off so absolutely no pressure on the girl.

Katherine pulled a lever by the steering wheeling. The windshield wipers turned on, ' _That's not what I want.'_ She grabbed the gear shift and maneuvered it down one gear as she turned away from the cliff just making it by barely four feet. The bus rolled down the pavement as she continued to make a crisscross of turns down the mountain.

Once they made it to the bottom of the mountain Katherine pulled off the road and turned off the engine. She turned around to everyone else on the bus. A lot of the girls were crying some of the guys were just sitting there in shock at what they had just witnessed; all in all it looked like no one was injured. "Is everyone okay?" She asked concerned.

"Are you?" Kageyama was the first to respond. He was staring at Katherine with genuine concern. The blood on her face that still dripped down her face from the gash on her head was worrisome to him. She moved a hand up and touched her face wincing a little.

"Yeah," she replied not breaking eye contact.

Katherine stood up from the seat and opened the door and walked out with her cell to call the headmaster. She frowned at the no bars and began walking looking for a better signal. Some of the other students followed her lead taking out their cell phones; they couldn't get a signal either. "This can't get much worse can it?" She muttered turning off her phone and shoving it back in her pocket.

* * *

CRACK. RUMBLE. DRIP.

* * *

Lightning flashed as soon as those words had left her mouth and it began to pour down rain. Katherine stood there looking up at the sky letting the rain soak through her clothes. "You just had to prove me wrong didn't you?" she questioned bitterly.

With the sudden rain, the students had decided to take refuge inside the bus to wait out the storm, while also trying to figure out where the hell they even were. The first thing that was taken care off was any injuries that any of them had sustained, more particularly Katherine.

She fought the urge to wince as Kageyama dabbed her forehead with rubbing alcohol. The injuries that she had gotten weren't that major in her opinion, in fact they seemed pretty minor to her after having been injured far worse before. Only a 'small' gash to her head and some bruises to her arms and stomach. "You don't have to do this," Katherine told the boy tending to her injuries.

It was strange that he was being so nice to her. She really just wanted some normalcy today, but she apparently wasn't going to be getting any of it from Kageyama.

Kageyama's eyes flickered down to Katherine's, "It's not that big of deal." The girl scoffed at the comment. "I mean it's not like you need my help," he defended trying to reason his actions, "but I kinda figured that I owed you one. You did save my life today."

"I guess I did," Katherine muttered thinking. Her eyes wandered over to Shino, who was pouring over a map with a compass in her hand trying to figure out where they were. "We are going to go back to hating each other after we get of this cursed bus right?" She asked curiously.

"I don't hate you," the boy informed her plainly.

Katherine was incredulous, "Really?"

Kageyama shook his head, "I don't hate you at all. Truthfully, I actually kind of admire you."

"You have a funny way of expressing yourself," she commented jokingly. The Class Rep. smiled in response. Silence fell over the two as Katherine sighed tiredly her eyes wandering over the rest of the bus.

"Can I ask you a question?" Kageyama requested bringing the girl's attention back to him.

"You just did," Katherine pointed out, "but sure, go ahead."

"What was that that you were going on about before you attacked the gun man? I mean the whole, 'I'll go with you willingly if you let everyone here go unharmed.' I don't get that," he was studying her seriously puzzled.

Katherine thought it over too. She had said those words on a whim. She still didn't know if she was what the man was after or not, though judging by his reaction to her words and the look of confusion on his face and the oh so subtle glances she had the burning suspicion that she had been correct in her assumption. "A bunch of bullshit," she answered, "I guess I was just trying to throw him off, take him off guard. He let his guard down, so I guess that it worked."

"Yeah, I guess it did," he agreed putting away the first aid kit.

Katherine stood up from the seat stretching her legs and grimacing at the pain in her side. Now that the heat of the fight was over she was starting to become more and more aware of her injuries. She would have to ignore them for now until they got out of this mess and she could actually get checked out. Her brown hair was in disarray and she frowned at that pulling it into a low messy bun.

"Have you found out where we are yet?" She questioned Shino.

The girl looked up from the maps to Katherine. "As far as I can tell were about right here," she pointed to a spot on the map, "It's like two hours off course though and I don't know how were going to get back. We have no driver—"

"I'll drive," Katherine said brushing the girl's worries off.

Shino stared at her worriedly, "are you sure?"

"Why not? No one else is going to do it and besides I've already driven this metal tin can, how hard could two more hours be—"

Apparently very hard as Katherine had found out some time later.

' _Damn these kids,'_ she cursed internally. If it wasn't someone complaining about how long this drive was taking, it was someone who needed to go to the bathroom, or 'Hey, I get car sick and I'm about to throw up'. Katherine was really starting to regret saving everyone. Had she had known they would have been this annoying she probably wouldn't have, Okay she would have either way, but she still not happy about the decision.

"We have to go to the bathroom," some of the kids called out from the back.

Katherine let out a sigh looking around at all the trees. "Can you hold it?" She questioned. There was really nowhere for them to go and she doubted that these rich kids had any idea how to rough it.

"No."

She let out an annoyed sighed and pulled off the road. ' _This trip is going to be the death of me,_ ' she groaned looking over the map as the kids practically leapt off the bus.

"How much longer?" Shino asked curiously as they waited for the other students. She was peering over Katherine's shoulder at the map.

"At least four more hours," she answered glumly, "we're back to where we originally were supposed to be, but now we have to drive to the camp."

Shino opened her mouth to say something else, but the words fell flat when a scream erupted from the woods. Both girls stood up abruptly, alarmed by the sound. They exchanged a worried glance, coming to a silent agreement on Shino watching the rest of the other students while Katherine went to see what was wrong.

A boy, one whom she didn't know the name of came running out of the woods like he was on fire. He was screaming and pacing, well limping, and his face was contorted in pain. "Itai! Itai," he screamed in a few curse words slipping in between.

"What's the matter? What happened?" Katherine asked confused, concerned, and a little panicked. She was unsure of what to do. She didn't even know what was wrong, but from the looks of it… it wasn't good.

"ASPIDERBITME," he all but screeched!

His words ran together to the point where Katherine almost didn't comprehend what he was saying. ' _Did he just say a spider bit me?'_ "Where?!" The question tumbled out of her mouth involuntarily. The girl was still thoroughly confused on what the hell was happening her instincts were just taking over. However despite this she definitely wasn't expecting the boy's answer.

"ONMYBALLS!"

"WHHAAATTT!" Katherine screamed back in surprise and shock. ' _Ohshitohshitohshitohshit.'_ As his words sunk deep in to her cerebellum, she was not only gripped with overwhelming panic, but the uncontrollable urge to laugh until she cried. "How bad is it?" She questioned him regaining some of her composure.

"I DON'T KNOW," he yelled.

"WELL LOOK DUMBASS!" Katherine snapped losing her patience. She really did not mean to insult him, but it just flew out of her mouth before she could stop it.

"I can't," he wailed. The boy was in so much pain he could barely even stand. It was so humiliating that he was blubbering like a baby and he couldn't even get up the courage to look at the bite.

"Well I can't help you if you don't show someone. We need to know how bad it is. You could be on the brink of death here," Katherine tried to explain to him calmly, but it came out in perplexed shouts.

"I'm not showing you," he told her firmly.

Katherine looked like she was about to be sick to her stomach, "I didn't ask you to. I don't want to see it." She looked back to the bus at all the surprised faces watching the scene with interest. "Kasumi get out here please," she practically begged.

Kageyama ran out of the bus worried, "what is it? What happened?"

"You have to look at that guy's balls," Katherine blurted out pointing to the student who was still screaming and pacing.

"Excuse me?"

"Look no time to explain. A spider bit him on his balls, we don't know how bad it is and he won't look and I don't have the stomach for it. Besides I'm a girl and he could possibly be dying it would be improper," the girl explained in a rush. Her words were somewhat jumbled together, yet the Class Rep. was still able to understand the gist of the situation.

Kageyama swallowed, "Okay, well there's a tree over there." He pointed to a tree out of view.

Katherine nodded vigorously giving her consent, "Yes, that's fine just go already." She turned around and faced the bus of students fearing that she might accidently see something she shouldn't. Everything was quite for a few minutes. "How bad is it?" She called out not turning around. There was no response. "Kageyama how bad is it?" She tried again.

"We need to get him to a hospital right now," came his firm reply. ' _Great. Just great,'_ Katherine groaned internally getting the rest of the stragglers on the bus and flooring it to the nearest hospital. She felt that this was going to be a long, long day in hell.

* * *

They managed to get to the hospital without incident. The bus had barely come to a stop before they were rushing the boy into the emergency room. The nurse on staff there wasn't taken aback by the students that entered the room; she had seen many things before much stranger than that. "Excuse me," Katherine started taking charge of the situation, "our friend here was bitten by a poisonous spider."

The nurse looked up blankly, "How long ago was he bitten?"

Katherine huffed, "How the hell should I know? He's injured and this is a hospital. I'll answer your questions once he gets a doctor."

The nurse pressed the intercom button and spoke into the mike, "Code Blue in the south side emergency room. Paging Dr. Yuukushido to the first floor ER."

The group of teenagers ended up having to wait a two hours in the waiting room until the doctor showed up with some news. Nurse what's-her-face had insisted that they fill out some forms and Katherine had managed to find the best friend of said injured boy and had him do it. Now all they had to do was wait for the doctor. Katherine had decided to try to call the headmaster again, maybe get some snacks or something to tide everyone over.

She walked out of the waiting room taking her cell out of her hoodie pocket dialing the Headmaster's phone. It immediately went to voicemail which the Headmaster had so inconveniently chosen not to set up. ' _How hard can setting up a voicemail box be and why in the world does he have his phone turned off?'_ Katherine pondered as she punched a couple buttons on the vending machine with a little more force than what was necessary.

She felt a headache coming on that could've been from the stress or getting in the head with a gun. Katherine thought it was more to due to hunger than anything else. Her stomach was a pit, a deep bottomless pit. She watched as the metal rings twisted dumping snacks into the little box so she could grab them. It wasn't anything major, just a few bags of chips, crackers, some candy bars, and packaged candy. Hopefully it could tide everyone over until they got to the camp.

' _Just a four hour drive. You can last four more hours,'_ she told herself. It was empty words; at best it was a goal that she hoped to be able to achieve. Katherine picked up the snacks from the vending machine and headed back to the waiting room to the others.

When she got there she dumped the load she'd been carrying in her arms on the table. Just as she guessed the other kids leapt at it snatching up what they could. She didn't take anything though. Katherine knew that she wouldn't be able to eat until everyone was safely at the camp. Kageyama sat somewhere off to the side next to Shino and Katherine crossed over and plopped herself down next to them. "Tired?" Shino asked as she watched Katherine lull her head back closing her eyes.

"How much longer do you think we'll be here?" She replied ignoring the question. ' _Of course I'm freaking tired.'_ She felt that anything she could say would come out of her mouth bitter and annoyed. And as the saying goes, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."

"It shouldn't be too much longer," Kageyama answered optimistically. He was attempting the boost her spirits, nevertheless that optimism was only making Katherine more peeved with everyone and everything around her. Thankfully it seemed that in that moment some divine being heard her silent prayers as the doctor had decided to grace them with his presence. He was an older gentleman, mid to late forties, with little wisps of white hair blending in with his naturally black locks. He held himself in a very dignified manner as he surveyed the room look for what Katherine supposed was the boy's parents.

Katherine stood up and walked over to him, ignoring the look of snobbish disbelief at having to discuss these matters with a child. "Where is the boy's family?" The Doctor questioned with a huff.

"There not here, obviously," she answered.

"Well I can't discuss the patient without his family present. Doctor-patient confidentiality is very strict about that," he responded.

"Look I don't care about the specifics. Just tell me if he's going to live and if you had to amputate anything of importance," Katherine sighed tiredly.

The Doctor looked appalled, at her apparent bluntness. He opened his mouth about to come back with a retort, until he thought better of it and looked through the clipboard in his hands. "He'll live and make a full recovery. We didn't remove anything from him except the spider's venom," he stated matter-of-factly.

Katherine nodded. "I assume you wish to keep him overnight for observation," she remarked. It definitely wasn't a question, though the Doctor treated it as one, confirming the remark with an affirming nod. "Thank you for your time doctor," she said politely, "what time tomorrow will he be discharged?"

"Around seven a.m." he answered.

"Good. We'll have someone by to pick him up. Can I have your name and the hospital's number please?" She gestured to herself, "if you haven't noticed, I am technically a minor and I have to report this incident to the headmaster." The doctor, Nakumora, wrote something down on a separate sheet of paper and handed it to the girl. Katherine scanned over it then folded it up and placed it in her back pocket. She then thanked the doctor one last time and then turned to the other students, "He's going to live," she said, theatrically, "Doctor Nakumora has assured it."

The other kids applauded and breathed sighs of relief. "What about his balls?" Someone asked.

"Nakumora assures me that he still has them. He has not been neutered," Katherine laughed along with several others. Despite all that had happened that morning, this was story to tell the grandkids. (That's if there are any grandkids to speak of in the future. If not some of the students would just have to tell this story to their cat or gold fish.) "So let's get back on the bus, the sooner we get to the camp the sooner we can eat real food," she said ushering them out of the waiting room and back on the road. It seemed as for now that the trouble was behind them, or at least Katherine hoped so. What she didn't know was that this was only the beginning of her troubles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have updated. It's about damn time right? I would like to thank a reader for getting on my ass and making me sit down and write. Originally this chapter was going to be longer, I was planning to put the whole camp thing in one chapter, but then I realized that it would take up too much time. So the next two to three chapters will be about the camping experience. If any of you have any suggestion leave them in the review or PM me.
> 
> Songs:  
> Traveling- Paper Lions
> 
> Japanese:  
> Itai- Ow. It hurts.  
> Yuukushido - Poison
> 
> Fun Fact:  
> Hospitals use code words like Dr. Yuukushido to page specialist. Dr. Yuukushido is a fictional person.


	12. The Aftershock

**I Don't Date Vampires**  
Chapter 10  
_**"The Aftershock"** _

* * *

"I'm sorry Rido-sama." He didn't dare looking into the eyes of his master. He had failed. He had failed on something so seemingly easy, but that girl –she wasn't normal. "The girl was prepared. She knew I was coming," he said, "I don't know how, but she knew."

He waited for his master to respond. There wasn't anything else he could do. He had made his case and now all there was to do was wait. So he waited and waited and _waited_ … He waited until the deafening silence threatened to drive him mad with fear before his master spoke.

"So you're telling me you allowed a human girl to beat you?"

He swallowed thickly. "Yes."

"And exactly how did she outsmart you?"

He thought about that seriously. Honestly he had no idea. The girl had used herself as bait, somehow she had known that she was what he wanted and used that little fact against him. Then when he was thoroughly caught off guard she attacked. It didn't make any sense. "I'm not sure," he admitted grudgingly.

There was nothing out of the ordinary. She was just like every other female day class student at that school; at least on the surface. He didn't see anything that would lead him to believe otherwise. Nevertheless with how she fought, it was quite obvious that she was not part of the majority. No ordinary girl would fight like that and willingly put her life on the line to safe a bunch of strangers.

"She knew I was there for her. She used that to her advantage," he explained.

"And she fought you?" Rido added.

"She shot me in the face," he said for the first time looking up into the piercing gaze of his master.

Rido's face was perfectly schooled into a blank mask. His child like features gave nothing away. The level-E couldn't read the surprise or the hidden amusement that glimmered in his multi-colored eyes. He was impressed. This girl was showing to be more interesting that he had originally thought. In truth he wasn't that surprised that the level-E couldn't capture her. Others had failed as well, but he was surprised that she was able to beat a vampire in a one-on-one fight. "I see," he mused.

"So what do we do now?"

The child smiled coolly at the question. "I'm going to pay Miss Taylor a visit," he replied.

"And what about me? What do I do?" The man asked. He was growing increasingly more nervous as the silence returned. The walls felt like they were closing in on him as he stood there in his master's study. He watched anxiously as the small boy went over to the desk and opened one of the drawers.

"You're no longer of any consequence," Rido told him taking out a small wooden box and set it on the desk. The man was quiet unsure of how to respond to that. He shifted his feet as the boy removed a silver revolver from the case.

"What are you doing?" He questioned moving away from the boy.

"Tying up loose ends," he answered. Rido looked at the man blankly, unblinking, before raising the barrel towards the vampire.

"Wait! Rido-sama, please don't I—"

**BAM**

* * *

"I'm worried," Hiyoki whispered.

"About what?" Natsume asked. She was busy reading one of those trashy tabloids. The cover was of some sort of UFO sprouting nonsense about aliens wearing human bodies as suits. The two girls were sitting in their assigned cabin waiting for dinner to roll around sprawled out on their beds bored stiff. This got Hiyoki thinking about her friend who she has not seen nor heard from since that morning.

"It's almost five o'clock and when haven't seen Kit," she explained, "She should've been here by now. I haven't even seen her bus and they left before we did."

The other girl shrugged, "Maybe they decided to stop somewhere or got a flat tire or something. I'm sure they're fine."

Hiyoki hoped that was true, but she had this gnawing feeling in her stomach that made her think it wasn't. "I'm going to go ask the headmaster if he's heard anything," she decided getting up from her bed and heading outside. The cool spring air hit her skin as she stepped outside the cabin causing goose-bumps to spread across her arms making her wish that she had thought to bring a jacket with her. Luckily, it was only a short walk to the Headmaster's temporary office.

"Hello Ms. Kimura," the Headmaster greeted when he opened the door.

"Hello Headmaster," she replied.

"Is there something you wished to discuss with me? If not I'd really have to insist that you return to your cabin," he told her moving her gently aside so he could get by. He looked worried as Hiyoki quickly noticed.

"Is something wrong?" She asked fearing the worst. She followed after the man hastily matching his quick strides.

The headmaster glanced down at the girl, "It's really nothing for you to be concerned about. Don't worry," he assured her. Unfortunately this only caused the girl to worry more as it seemed, at least for the time being, to confirm that her suspicion that something was wrong was correct. ' _Did something happen to Kit; to her bus? Is she hurt?'_ She thought becoming panicked.

"Is bus ten missing?" Hiyoki finally inquired.

The Headmaster paused surprised at the question. How did she know?

"Katherine was on that bus and I haven't seen her," the girl explained.

"I'm sure she's okay Ms. Kimura. This has just been an issue with getting hold of the bus driver. Now I must insist that you please return to your cabin," he told her, "If there's any news you'll be the first to know."

Hiyoki grudgingly admitted that the Headmaster was right. She wasn't helping matters by pestering him with questions. She should just let him do his job. "Okay," she nodded.

The headmaster gave her a reassuring smile before she turn on her heal and walked off the way that she came. As he watched her go, his smile slowly turned into a frown. He had lied to the girl. Of course there was no need to worry her over such matters, but the aforementioned bus driver had called in sick some hours ago which was strange considering he had distinctly recalled that particular bus driver talking to one of the other teachers. But then it became apparent, after he thought about it for a minute, that that man that he saw was not someone that he had hired.

It was a major slip up; one that could possibly cost him his job.

He didn't want to sound any alarms, so for the past couple hours he had been trying to get in touch with any of the students on that bus. However they were either out of cell phone range or something had gone terribly wrong. He had no other choice than to involve Kaname-sama. The pureblood would know what to do.

It didn't take that long to explain the situation to Kaname and it took even less time for them to come up with a plan. They had decided to try to continue contact any of the students on that bus, while a second more agile group would search the surrounding area of the closest checkpoint. It wasn't a great plan. Japan was a pretty large country and those kids could've been taken anywhere.

Fortunately for them said kids weren't that far off from the camp. In fact they were just two kilometers down the road.

"I can't believe this," Katherine sighed as she examined the rear left tire. This just wasn't her day. Of all the times for them to get a flat tire they had to get one now. "How far is to the camp?" She asked turning to Kageyama.

"Not that far. Shino said we were really close. I'd guess maybe 2 kilometers at most," he replied. Katherine was quiet considering all their options. She wasn't sure if she could change the tire. She didn't see the jack required to do so and she only had a vague idea of how to change a tire. "What are you thinking?" He questioned after a long pause.

"I'm thinking," she started slowly, "that we're walking. Unless there's anyone here who knows how to change a tire…"

"I don't think so."

"Then were walking," she concluded.

The two teens jump back on the bus. "Okay guys," Katherine said turning to the expectant faces of her peers, "grab your stuff, jackets, duffels, water bottles, whatever else any of you have. Unless any of you want to wait an hour or two while we figure out how to change a tire we're going to walk twenty minutes up the road to the camp."

Katherine gave them a second to voice any protest or propose any other ideas to which they didn't. No one was particularly thrilled with either option, but none of them wanted to spend another minute on that bus. So after gathering their belongings they began to trek alongside the road.

"I don't think this is what the headmaster meant when he said bonding," Katherine quipped.

Shino gave a little giggle in response. "I think you're right. This is defiantly not what he had in mind," she agreed.

"God forbid if I ever want to go camping again," Kageyama remarked.

"God forbid if any of us ever ride a bus again," Katherine added.

"I'm sticking with trains from now on," Shino told them.

"Amen to that."

They laughed at the irony of the situation. This morning none of them had been friends. It may have not been what the headmaster had intended, but they had bonded. Everyone on that bus had bonded. Sure it wasn't under the best circumstances. But sometimes the strongest bonds are made in adversity. Those kids had banded together with one common goal: to get to the camp. They were going to get there and nothing, not an armed gunman or a poisonous spider or even a flat tire, was going to get in their way.

When the group finally stumbled into the camp, much to the disbelief of the Headmaster, they were surprised to see that a search party had been organized. It was complete chaos as everyone began to retell their version of what happened. Some day class girls were using the opportunity to get close to their idols saying words like "trauma victim" and "going into shock". Eventually the Headmaster was able to pick Katherine out of the crowd.

"What happened?" Katherine's hair was in complete disarray. She looked drained as if her eyes would close at any second. There was a small bandage on her forehead by her hairline that the Headmaster noticed almost immediately when she turned towards him. She looked, in that moment, so much older than she actually was.

"Umm," she paused taking a moment to clear her head, "it's kinda a long story."

The headmaster nodded and decided to ask the most obvious question first. "Where's the bus?"

"It's down the road a little ways. There was a flat tire and since we were so close we just decided to walk," she explained.

"And the bus driver?"

"Umm –he –a… we sort of ditched him."

"Ditched him? Then how did you get the bus –who drove?"

"I did. Oh and here," she reached in her back pocket and handed him a slip of paper.

The headmaster looked at it confused. "What's this?"

"We had to drop a kid off at the hospital. Don't worry he's fine. He was bitten by a poisonous spider. They wanted to keep him over night just to make sure he doesn't get any spidey senses. That's the doctor's contact information," she said.

The man was quiet as he processed this information. "Is there anything else?"

"Yes actually. The bus driver, he kind of –umm –lost his marbles." She unzipped her duffle and rummaged around before she pulled out the 9mm pistol and handed it to the headmaster. "So you might want to send that bus in for repairs. There are holes in the ceiling and a window was broken."

The headmaster stared at the weapon in his hand as realization began to dawn on him. Not only had he let some lunatic threaten a bus full of kids, but he had unconsciously let a level-e slip past him. He swallowed thickly before he asked his next question, "Katherine what happened to the bus driver?"

The girl winced. "I kind of shot him in the face," she said though it sounded more like a question.

"Headmaster the girl is tired. We can get this all sorted later I'm sure. Parents need to be informed of the situation," Kaname interjected causing Katherine to jolt. His presence had surprised her; she didn't notice him there.

"Oh, right! How rude of me; I'll get one of the teacher's right on that," the headmaster said, " We should also take Miss Taylor to the nurse. Get her checked out."

"No –I-I'm fine really." Katherine assured them.

"Nonsense," the headmaster scoffed, "you received a pretty nasty bump to the head. We have to make sure that you don't have a concussion or some other injury."

"I don't. Honestly, I'm fine–"

"–Aidou, please escort Taylor-san to the nurse's office–"

"–Of course Kaname-sama–"

Katherine's protests were cut off when Aidou gripped her elbow and steered her away from the crowd. His hold was firm so that she couldn't get away, but gentle enough to where it wouldn't hurt her. Katherine trailed along behind him much to her displeasure. "Really I'm fine," she kept insisting.

"Kit, don't be an idiot," he snapped after hearing her say 'I'm fine' for what seemed like the hundredth time. "You're not fine. Fine implies that everything is okay. You're not okay; so don't try to lie. I know you well enough to know when you're freaking out."

"I'm not freaking out!" She argued, "Yes, I'm a little wigged, but I'm _FINE._ I don't need to see a doctor. I know what a concussion is and I can firmly say that I don't have one."

"This isn't just about you," Aidou replied angrily.

"I know!" She yelled pulling her arm from his grasp. Aidou turned bewildered by her sudden outburst. "I know this isn't just about me! Believe me, I know. You're worried. You just want to make sure I'm okay, but that emotion is back lashing onto me. The truth is that I'm scared…I'm not sure how any of this happened –this morning the only thing I was concerned with was taking nap on the bus and now Kageyama stopped hating me, some kid's in the hospital, the bus driver is dead, I have this splitting headache, and there is fucking gum stuck to the bottom of my fucking shoe!"

Aidou was unsure of how to respond to any of that. He watched as Katherine, slightly out of breath, tried to regain control of her emotions. "You feel better now?" He asked.

"No –I-I k-killed someone." The look she gave him conveyed everything that she was feeling, "He's dead… a-and it is all m-my fault. I killed him, _I killed him…"_ A broken sob escaped past her lips as she tried to hold back her tears. ' _I killed him. He's dead because of me. I'm a murder –'_

It was the first time he had ever seen her cry and he was completely at a loss of what to do. Katherine didn't cry. It was unfathomable to him and he found himself acting on instinct as he wrapped his arms her and pulled her close. She clung to his shirt as her shoulders shook with her muffled cries. "It's okay. You're safe. Nothing's going to get you. Don't be scared, Kit. It's okay. It's over," he breathed tucking her head under his chin.

It could've been ten minutes or an hour when Katherine finally stopped crying. She stayed in his arms a little longer than necessary; reluctant to pull away knowing that the second she did he would as well. Under normal circumstances she never would have even thought to attempt something like this. Katherine wasn't really the hugging type. And yet she found herself wishing could stay there forever, but that wasn't possible. As much as she wished to freeze that moment, she couldn't.

She pulled herself away from Aidou, wiping at her eyes. Taking a deep breath she turned to him and gave him a small smile. "Thank you, I feel much better now. Sorry I ruined your shirt." she said.

"It's okay. I never liked this shirt," he said looking down at the tear soaked fabric, "Now I have an excuse to get rid of it."

Katherine laughter filled the air. "Glad I could help," she smiled.

* * *

"Look here," Yagari instructed as he shined a light in Katherine's eye. He told her to follow his finger as he switched eyes watching the pupils constrict. "Your pupillary response is normal. How are you feeling otherwise? Any headaches? Nausea?"

"I have a slight headache," she told him, "but I'm pretty sure it's because I haven't eaten anything today."

"Well just in case you should take these," he placed two round brown pills in her hand.

"What is it?"

Yagari handed her a bottle of water, "Advil." She placed one of the tablets on the back of her tongue and took a sip of water. "Hey kid," he said turning toward Aidou, "Go get something to eat. You're not needed here."

Aidou glared at the man and glanced over to Katherine. "It's okay Aidou-sempai. Go eat something. I'll be alright," she assured him. The blonde's eyes flickered back to over to the hunter who was watching him with blank expression. He tsked to himself before pushing away from the wall.

"Do feel better Taylor-chan," he winked.

Katherine laughed, "Sure thing Sempai. Arigatou."

Yagari watched as the blonde vampire slipped out the door leaving the small clinic. Katherine was shaking her head at his antics. Of course Aidou was still Aidou. "Thank you Sensei for looking me over." She said bring the man out of his reflections.

"Don't worry about it," he grunted.

"Can I ask you something?" She questioned.

"If you must," he sighed.

"Okay, don't take this the wrong way," she started, "but you don't really seem like a teacher. I don't really know how to explain it, but you seem like someone who would enjoy bounty hunting or well hunting in general. You have this air about you that screams, ' _I have a low bullshit tolerance.'_ I was just wondering why you would choose to become a teacher."

Yagari studied the girl sitting on the cot. It surprised him that she would ask a question like that. "I like teaching," he answered. That was true. He had always enjoyed teaching, but he didn't realize how much until he had met Zero and Ichiru. "Being able to inspire people on a daily basis isn't something most people get to do. I like knowing that I'm helping shape the next generation."

"Well I think you're a great teacher Sensei," Katherine smiled.

* * *

" _Have you ever thought of doing something other than hunting?"_

" _Why would I? Hunting is in my blood."_

" _I just think you would make a great teacher. Yagari Sensei has a nice ring to it." She laughed._

* * *

"Konbanwa Headmaster," Katherine chirped turning toward the door.

"Good evening, Katherine. Feeling better I hope." He replied.

"Yes, much better, thank you."

The headmaster gave her a warm smile though still not his usual airhead self. "Good, good." He said, "Now I'm sure you aching to get out of here, but there are some discrepancies in the other students' accounts. It would be prudent to hear your version of the events."

"Oh, right of course," she agreed. So she began her story. She told them of how she had noticed something was off when they had turned off the wrong exit. She explained thoroughly what happened to the bus driver and how they ended up at the hospital. She even told them of how they had gotten lost and ended getting a flat tire. And when she finished her story both Yagari and the headmaster were deep in thought.

"So the bus driver was taking you somewhere?" The Headmaster clarified.

Katherine nodded. "Yes, but I don't know where."

"Can you tell us where you first stopped the bus?" Yagari asked.

"Splendid idea, Yagari. Here I have a map," The headmaster said unfolding a map from his jacket pocket. He gave Katherine the map and she studied it for a moment.

"Here," she pointed; her finger tapping on the map. "This is where the bus stopped and here," she moved her finger a little to the right, "is where the bus driver fell off."

The headmaster took the map from the girl's hands and studied the area. There was a large sea port not thirty minutes from where she pointed. It wasn't much, but it was a place to start. "Does that help?"

"Yes, very much, we'll have the authorities look into this. Arigatou gozaimasu."

"Umm…Headmaster," she called stopping him at the door, "did you happen to contact my guardian yet?"

"No not yet," he answered.

"Is there any chance you could hold off calling him?" She asked.

"Katherine you know I can't do that. It's my job as headmaster to keep the parents informed of –"

"No. That's not what I meant. He should know about all of _this…_ " She gestured to the space around her, "I just think I should tell him. He'll take it better if I tell him or not better, but maybe not as bad."

"You want to tell him about all this?"

Katherine nodded.

He looked at her confused, "Okay. Do you have a way to contact him or do you need to use a phone?"

"I have my cell," she told him.

"Right, then we'll just leave you to it."

The two men exited the clinic leaving Katherine sitting on the cot. She let out a tired sigh. There was no way she could make this sound okay. "Luke is gonna freak," she groaned. ' _Maybe I'll call him tomorrow. Tomorrow sounds good…No Katherine stop stalling! Just get it over with, do it really fast like ripping off a band aid.'_ She dug through her duffle until she found the device. Turning it on, she searched through her contacts finding the number that she needed and pressed send.

"Just like ripping off a band aid," she whispered as she listened to the other line ring, "A band aid that's been stapled, superglued, and surgically imbedded in my arm."

She sucked in a breath as Lucian picked up the other line. "Hey Kit what was the name of that movie with Glenn Close?" He asked.

"What movie?"

"You know that one where she goes crazy and boils that kid's rabbit," he described.

"Oh, I think that was Fatal Attraction," she said.

"Great thanks. That's been bugging me all day. So why are you calling –Not that it's not good to hear your voice – you just don't usually call?"

She swallowed. "I wanted to see how you were," she winced at how obvious that sounded. Lucian picked up on it as well.

"Kit is something wrong?"

"No!" She said a little too quickly, "I mean –Everything's fine. I'm okay."

Lucian was definitely suspicious. It was odd for Katherine to call him. She wasn't one of those people who spent hours talking on the phone, in fact, it was the exact opposite. One could go so far to say that she had a phone phobia. He was the one who usually had to call her, not the other way around, and now she was calling him and stuttering. "Well of course you're okay," he pressed, "Why wouldn't you be?"

She closed her eyes pinching the bridge of her nose, "I need to tell you something, but you have you promise me that you'll let me finish before you respond."

"What do you need to tell me?"

"–Promise first –"

"Okay I promise. Now tell me what's going on."

* * *

"You know what this means don't you?" Yagari said stopping the Headmaster in the hallway.

"Yes, of course I do," he retorted, "Level-e's don't behave like that unless given a direct order by an aristocrat or higher."

"Which means this wasn't some random attack," Yagari added, "It was planned. I can't see what they hoped to accomplish though. Taking a bus full of hostages, what was the point in that?"

"Yes, it's quiet strange. I'm not sure what to make of it myself," the other man agreed glancing at the girl through the tiny window in the door. She was talking animatedly into the phone pressed to her ear. It seemed as if she was arguing with the person on the other end.

"No, really I'm fine. Yes. No. Yes, I am. No you don't need to come here. I'll send you a picture to prove it." She paused listening before she nodded, "Yeah okay. I promise. No I mean it. I'll stick to crowded areas. Yes. Yes. Okay I got it."

"Very strange," the headmaster mumbled to himself rubbing his chin in thought.

Katherine said a few more quick words before she ended the call with a swift, "I miss you too. Yeah I'll be fine. Bye Luke."

"We should keep a closer eye on Miss Taylor from now on," he mused, "It seems as if she had a talent for getting into trouble."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, Okay. I meant to finish this awhile ago, but hey guess it didn't turn out that way. I'd like to thank those of you who have favorited, reviewed, and continued to follow this story, even though I haven't updated in like six months. I'm going to try to update this story more often. And spoiler alert there is definitely going to be more Rido in upcoming chapters. I have some great ideas for him in that kid's body, because the idea of him in a child's body is too good to pass up.
> 
> I'm working on revising the previous chapters, mostly fixing grammatical errors. Anyways I'm not going to make any promise when it comes to posting the next chapter, but I know that the next two chapters will be the camping trip. Please review and tell me what you think of this chapter or if you have any thoughts or improvements. As always constructive criticism is encouraged. Now I'm going to bed it's currently 1:04 am and I'm tired...
> 
> Japanese:
> 
> Konbanwa = Good Evening


	13. Poker Face

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Edit 2/1/15: So something that I've been thinking about awhile has recently come to my attention to include disclaimers in my story. The reason I haven't up until now is because I thought it went with out saying, but to keep people from getting all butt-hurt I thought it would be best to add them just in case... This is a fanfiction. As a parody any resemblance to any other previous published literature (i.e. books, song lyrics, poems, etc.) or any broadcast-ed media (i.e. movies, television shows, skits, plays, etc.) is purely coincidental. This is by no means me trying to pass of other peoples work as my own and as such this is completely nonprofit. I don't get paid to write and I am not using these stories as a means of collecting money.)
> 
> Inspiration for this update is credited to Disney's "The Parent Trap" (1998).

**I Don't Date Vampires**  
Chapter 11  
****_"Poker Face"_

* * *

Katherine wasn't very hungry that morning in the mess hall. The yellow spongy eggs on her plate were hardly appetizing. She poked at them with her fork moving them around, taking an occasional half-hearted bite. They tasted plain, unsatisfying, and in desperate need of salt. However playing with her eggs was favorable to looking at the worried expressions of the two girls sitting across the table.

News of the incident had spread like wildfire through the camp. Stories of Katherine heroic deed, most grossly exaggerated, were whispered into any ear that would listen. The whispers reminded Katherine of her of school in Rio after the other kids had found out that her parents had mysteriously disappeared. She didn't like it; the staring, the whispers, or the concerned looks from both her friends and school staff as they looked her way. All afraid to say anything that might upset her as if she would break down. It made her feel as if she were under a microscope.

She had tried so hard not to stand out, to be normal. Now that plan was shot to hell. They would know now. It wouldn't be long until they found out about her parents, then she would receive even more looks of sympathy. How she hated sympathy. She much preferred the incessant teasing of bullies to sympathy; at least she didn't have to worry about them treating her like she was made of glass.

"Are you feeling okay?" Natsume asked.

Katherine didn't glance up from her food. "Yeah, I'm fine," she answered; the response having become almost reflexive by now. The number of people that had asked her that question in the last twelve or so hours…if she had a nickel for that number of people she'd be rich.

"You've barely touched your food," Hiyoki pointed out gesturing to her plate with a fork.

"I'm just tired," she said, "I didn't sleep that much last night. Those mattresses are really lumpy."

In truth it wasn't the mattresses that kept her tossing and turning through the night. The phone call with Lucian had left a gnawing feeling in her stomach. He hadn't reacted to the news how she thought he would. Instead of jumping on the next plane and pulling her from the school, he was oddly acceptant of the news; almost withdrawn and apologetic.

His warning was still at the forefront of her mind: _'Kit promise you'll try to stay on campus for the next few weeks. Please, for my peace of mind at least; I'd feel better knowing you're safe on campus than wandering the town –and if there is a pressing need for you leave try to stay in crowded areas.'_

Those words had been repeating themselves in her mind as she attempted to sleep and then when she was finally able to drift off her dreams were invaded with black eyed gutter rats nibbling on her flesh. She awoke in a cold sweat and had to check her bedding several times to make sure there where none of the rodents lying in wait.

"How'd your uncle take the news?" Natsume wondered curiously.

"Better than to be expected," she sighed, "I mean it took some convincing and I had to send him a picture of me with today's paper before he'd believe that I was okay, but he eventually calmed down."

"Is he going to pull you out of the academy?!" Hiyoki exclaimed in alarm. Her outburst had attracted the attention of the table nearest to them as the group paused in their conversation to listen.

Katherine ignored them best she could; shaking her head, "No. It wouldn't really be logical. He can't take me in right now and there's no other place to send me." She put down her fork reaching for the crystal salt shaker. "I guess I could transfer to another school, but then that might be hard to do so late in the year. I have a feeling he already pulled a bunch of strings getting me admitted here and it would be impossible to do anywhere else. Besides he knows that I'm probably safest at the academy." She tipped the salt over her plate not expecting the cap to fall off and salt pour out all over her eggs.

She blinked staring at the small pile of salt that had coated her food. Then there was a snort and a laugh as Natsume and Hiyoki tried to cover their smiles with their palms. "Ha. Ha. Very funny guys," she drawled plucking the cap out of her eggs and screwing it back on the vial, "What are we in middle school? Unscrewing the cap from the salt that's weak, passé; it's been overdone. And quite frankly, I expected more from you."

"Puleeze!" Hiyoki scoffed, "We're only getting started. Subliminal is half the battle." Katherine looked incredulous.

"Sure."

"O ye of little faith," Natsume sighed dramatically, "By the time this is over we're going to be standing on the Olympic platform receiving our gold metals for pranking."

Katherine's eyes flickered between the two girls. "Are we really doing this?"

"Yes." They answered simultaneously.

"Well alright then," she said, "but fair warning I don't back down and if anyone is going to be standing on that platform receiving that metal it's going to be me."

"Bring it on Goldilocks," Natsume sneered.

The intense stare down between the two girls was broken by the headmaster's cheerful greeting. "Good morning, Students!"

"Good morning, Headmaster," the girls replied along with the rest of the students.

"I know all of you are very excited for this for this evening, but this is still a school outing and you all still have to go to classes," There were a few individual groans from the audience. "Mrs. Hoshino has been generous enough open the camp during the off season and as such she requested to speak with you all this morning before you go," he continued.

A petite woman jumped up on to the raised platform to the front of the room. She was surprisingly spry for someone of her age as she looked to be in her late-sixties or early-seventies, if her stark white hair, large glasses, and withered face were anything to go by. "Arigatou Kurosu-san. I would like to take a few minutes and review the rules and go over the schedules that you all received yesterday upon your arrival here." She began, "Because of Cross Academy's unique situation, we've scheduled all of your classes in the morning leaving the afternoon open the camp activities that each of you chose from prior to your arrival here. Those activities should be listed on your schedules under your morning classes. Take a moment and review them; if there are any mistakes you can talk to one of our staff members or your dorm supervisor and we'll get it fixed."

Katherine looked over the piece of paper in her hand. There were only three days with classes. That morning she was scheduled to have _English_ , _Chem. Lab_ , and _World History_ which would be followed by _Crafts_ , _Swimming_ , and _Canoeing_. Underneath that were four other activities listed: _three legged race, Football/Volleyball game, Trivia Contest,_ and _Paintball._

"In the late afternoon and early evening there will be activities for both the day and night class students. Those activities are also listed on your schedules and of course dinner will be served to both groups here. Let's see what else…" The old woman adjusted the glasses on her face peering down at the clipboard in her hands, "Curfew is as at 9:30. All day class students are expected to be in their cabins by that time. Each morning there will be cabin inspections. You are expected to keep your living space clean and above board. No food from the dining hall is allowed in the cabins. Remember that any of you who break these rules will be written up and placed on chore duty."

Chore duty didn't sound so bad to Katherine. In fact, she had a feeling that by Wednesday that she may actually end up being on that chore list and she probably wouldn't be the only one; especially if Natsume and Hiyoki history of prank wars were anything to go by. But she wondered if she would wind up missing the big event though, if that were the case.

Everyone had been talking about the camping trip for weeks after the Headmaster had announced it. One of the main topics of discussion was the eleven kilometer hike to the other side of the lake and camping overnight in tents with the night class. Many of the girls wouldn't shut up about it, Natsume and Hiyoki included. Personally, Katherine didn't think much of it in regards to being around the night class students, but was instead looking forward to sleeping outside in a tent which was to her the very definition of camping. If getting stuck with chore duty meant missing that, then maybe it would be best to try to put a stop to this prank war.

' _Oh, who am I kidding?'_ Katherine sighed glancing at the two girls sitting across from her, _'Once it starts it's impossible to stop until one of us calls a truce. And I refuse to call a truce.'_

"–There will be sleeping bags and tents provided. All students must check in by noon at the latest on Friday." The girl glanced back over to the woman who was just finishing up her speech. She had tuned most of it out except for the important details. The gist of it was that they were going to leave around 2:30 on Thursday after having eaten lunch with the night class students and return to camp at noon on Friday and have a quick lunch before packing up and going back to the academy.

"–On that note, thank you again Mrs. Hoshino," the Headmaster started cutting in giving her a nod as she jumped off the stage. "You're all dismissed."

With the headmaster's announcement finished, the students began to gather their trays and book bags and start heading to class. "I can't believe we still have to do school on a camping trip," Natsume whined.

"At least it's not all day," Hiyoki piped in trying to cheer the girl up.

"Yeah, that's true," she agreed.

"So, what classes do you two have?" Katherine asked jumping into the conversation. "I have English, Chem. Lab, and World History," she told them. The other girls unfolded their schedules and handed them back to her. Katherine saw that she had Chem. Lab with both of them, but only shared World History with Hiyoki. She handed the schedules back and sighed.

"Don't look so glum," Natsume chided, "We'll see you in Chem. Lab."

Katherine nodded half-heartedly. She was really hoping to have all her classes with them. She hadn't been looking forward to today and as childish as it might sound she knew that the two of them would help distract her from her thoughts. Without them there she was bound to get too caught up in things that she really shouldn't be dwelling on.

Natsume and Hiyoki shared a meaningful glance. "Hey," Hiyoki piped up, "how about the three of us sit together in Chem. Lab?"

Katherine looked up at her and smiled. _'God bless these two,'_ she thought. How she ever came to have such great friends as Natsume and Hiyoki, she would never know. It was lucky that's for sure. "That sounds fine," she agreed.

The two girls beamed back at her. "Then we'll see ya then Kit," Natsume laughed. Then she placed her hand on her shoulder, "You better watch your back though, never know when we're going to jump out and getcha!" The blonde laughed again before she ran off leaving Katherine standing next to Hiyoki.

"What an idiot," Hiyoki giggled as she watched her friend go. The burnet turned to the other girl. "Kit," she said causing Katherine to look at her as well, "You're going to be fine. You're a strong person, so there is no doubt in my mind. So smile and don't let what happened hold you back."

The other girl smiled softly in response. "That's better," she nodded approvingly; "You're always prettiest when you smile."

"Thanks Hiyoki."

The brunet smiled, "It's what friends do. There's no need to thank me. I'll catch up with you in a little bit, okay?"

Katherine nodded a small smile on her face as she watched her friend run off after Natsume. ' _Friends…'_ she sighed. There was a time when that word was foreign to her. It was hard to believe now, that she was surrounded by people that she would call friends; but there was a time when she was completely alone. Part of it was due to Lucian's job, however the real reason she hadn't made friends was because people didn't like her. It wasn't for lack of trying. They just thought she was strange, crazy, and scary. In their defense, she knew that there were times that she was those things.

Maybe what was really bothering her was the fact that everything was changing. Try as she might, Katherine couldn't remain as she was. Things had changed. She wasn't the same girl that got on the bus Monday morning. The person she was now was someone wiser, less naïve. It was something that no one around her wanted to admit, but she had blood on her hands and things would never be the same again.

So she'd do it. She'd smile, if not for herself, for her friends because they didn't need to worry about her. She was stronger than this…

* * *

**PFT. POP. BOOM!**

"Ah!"

"What the hell?"

"Holy shit!"

Second period Chem. Lab had not gone like the teacher was expecting. Everything had been going normally up until a few seconds ago. She was having the student experimenting with somewhat hazardous materials to make a very harmless and useful wart remover. Then it happened, two of the students accidently added more of one chemical than they were supposed to and resulted in a very loud bang as the concoction exploded and a mass of hazy grey smoke filled the room causing everyone's eyes to water and run for the nearest exit.

"Everybody please exit the classroom calmly. Don't shove," the teacher coughed covering her mouth and nose with her shirt. There was a bottleneck at the door as students tried to shove through, but eventually everyone made it outside, if not a little confused at what happened. "Okay it's no big deal. We'll just wait for the classroom to air out," she said.

Looking over the students her eyes fell on the instigators of this little mishap. The two girls, Natsume Abe and Hiyoki Kimura, were talking adamantly to each other. "I don't know what happened!"

"Well it wasn't me. I measured everything correctly. You were the one that poured them in…"

"–Oh! Why that little…"

"–She's fucking going down!"

Both girls turned toward their friend that was leaning against the building rubbing some of the grime of her face. They shot her a menacing glare. "This is war, Kit."

The blonde girl shrugged a small smile pulling at her lips.

* * *

"Ah," Katherine sighed as she was finally able to lie down after a long day. The mattress that she had been complaining about that morning suddenly felt heavenly on her sore muscles. Needless to say, after the incident in Chem. Hiyoki and Natsume had gone all out. The day consisted of all three girls trying to outdo each other. From World History, where Hiyoki had broken all the pencil led in her mechanical pencils and taken all her pens, to crafts, when Katherine had retaliated by replacing the Elmer's glue with superglue, and Canoeing, where Natsume had completely soaked all three of them by flipping the canoe, which all ended in an all-out paintball war, that lead to more than a couple innocent bystanders getting caught in the crosshairs.

Now she was in her cabin covered in tiny purple welts and lying on her bed with a smile stretched wide across her face. She was happy. Today had been exactly what she needed. Katherine wasn't sure how those two thought of starting an all-out prank war, but she knew it was no accident. In their own strange way they were trying to cheer her up.

The girl sat up as some of the other girls had made their way back inside the cabin. They paused in their conversation and smiled at the other girl. "Man Taylor-san you dominated in paintball today," one of them, a girl named Saruka, laughed. "I don't think I've ever seen anything so epic. The way you went after Abe-san and Kimura-san…"

"I'm just glad I was on your team," another one, Mikan, piped in. "I don't think I would've liked to be on the receiving end of that."

Katherine laughed a little flushed. "Yeah, I may have gotten a bit carried away," she admitted.

"–maybe just a tad. But it was fun though."

Sakura glanced at the clock on the wall and sighed. "It's so early still. I can't believe we have a curfew. Isn't the whole point of this is to interact with the Night Class?"

There were a few murmurs of agreement from the other girls. None of them liked the idea of a curfew, even Katherine though she could see the practicality in it as it would be impossible for the Night Class to study if they were constantly being mobbed by the Day class, and they all were very disappointed that they wouldn't be able to sneak out of the cabins. Katherine only shrugged, however, and stretched her sore muscles before moving toward her duffle and rifling through it.

"I'm not that tired yet, so if any of you want to…" She pulled out a brand new deck of playing cards showing them to her roommates. The other girls' eyes lit up in anticipation. "Do any of you know how to play Texas Hold'em?"

Mikan was the first to jump in. "Oh hell yes, I do!" She laughed pulling Katherine up from the bed and clearing an area on another that was positioned more towards the center of the room. The other girls quickly surrounded them some joining in while others were just spectators. Katherine tore of the plastic casing and worked the cards in her hands to make them more flexible and then dealt them out, all the while keeping a mischievous smiling that was fighting to make its way to the surface at bay.

' _This is going to be fun…'_

Perhaps it was something that the girl should've mentioned sooner, but Katherine was a wizard when it came to anything involving a deck of cards. She may be horrible at chess and downright pathetic at monopoly and a complete train wreck when anything that involved heavy balls and pins, but give her a deck of cards and she would cream her competition. Lucian had often teased her about it saying that she should start playing professionally, but she never cared about that because it was the one thing that she could beat him at.

This particular deck had been a farewell gesture before she boarded the plane in London. Lucian had bought it out of a vending machine as a joke, yet what he said next was completely serious. "Here," he had said, "I hope that there is someone in that country that can finally beat your ass in poker."

"You're just a sore loser," she had responded causing him to break his façade and laugh.

So was it a little sneaky to have started playing poker with these girls? Maybe. Was it wrong to challenge them to play, even though she knew that she would most likely win? Sure. Should she have been upfront about her talent? Of course. But was she going to tell them any of this? Hell no!

Instead Katherine had decided to let the chips fall where they may, pun intended, and enjoy the game. And if she won some extra cash… well they're rich kids and could afford it.

"That's it? No more takers?" Katherine called out to the occupants of the cabin after having won her sixth hand of poker. She flipped through the cards with her fingers as she looked around expectant. The girls in the cabin were huddled around the two bunk beds each one shaking their heads. They were all shaking their heads in disbelief at Katherine.

Mikan, who turned out to be quite the gambler, was hunched over holding her head in her hands. She had unknowingly thrown all her pocket money into the pot and was now facing the consequences. "How?" She muttered staring at Katherine as if she were some otherworldly being. "How did you beat me? I've never lost!"

Katherine shrugged. "Neither have I," she said.

"–but you…" she looked between the hand of cards lying on the bed and Katherine's, "It's impossible. Did you cheat?" She glared at the girl accusingly.

"No, of course not!" Katherine exclaimed affronted. "I'm just really good at reading people. I know when someone is bluffing or not. All of you have a tell –a psychological tick to let me know when you're lying."

"No way..."

"It's true," she insisted.

"Okay what is it?"

"If I tell you you'll do your best to hide it," she pointed out. Dragging the pile toward her, Katherine began to count out the bills and sort them in piles. "So that's it?" She repeated looking around. "What about you Sakura-san?"

"Not a chance," Sakura shook her head, "I'm tapped out."

"I'll take a whack at it!"

The girls all turned to the door to see who the newcomers were. They hadn't heard anyone enter the cabin, but sometime during their conversation Natsume and Hiyoki had opened the door and were now leaning in the doorway. Katherine smiled at the two girls. Her eyes were sparking up with delight as she gestured to the space in front of her. "Have a seat, Abe-san," she said.

Natsume and Hiyoki crossed the room. The group of the girls made room for them on the beds with Natsume taking the seat opposite from Katherine and Hiyoki taking a spot directly behind. "Deal me in," she jeered dumping the contents of her wallet out on the bed.

Katherine stared down at the pile of coins and bills, "As you wish."

As the two played well into the night the girls in the cabin weren't able to see any way in which Natsume could win. Katherine had hussled the majority of them out of all their pocket money and it seemed as if Natsume would be no exception. It wasn't until she was down to her last 100 yen coin that the game suddenly changed.

"I have a proposal, loser jumps into the lake," Natsume said throwing in her last coin as Katherine pushed in her entire haul.

"Excellent," Katherine smirked thumbing through her cards.

"–Naked…"

"Even more excellent," she smiled charmingly, "Start unzipping, Natsume." Katherine laid her cards down with a flourish revealing a straight in spades.

"Wow, you're good Katherine." The other girl breathed in awe.

Katherine smiled triumphantly and began to reach for the pile of currency between them. Natsume held up a hand to stop her, "However," she laughed, "you're just not good enough."

"What?"

Natsume then revealed her hand, "In your honor a royal flush." She laughed at her friend's flabbergasted expression as her eyes widen comically and her mouth dropped open. It didn't seem to sink in at first and Katherine's eyes kept jumping between her cards and Natsume's, but then a resolve hardened in her eyes and she nodded in approval.

"Well played," she laughed as she stood up from the bed and stretched. "So how you wanna do this?"

Natsume looked at her confused. "What do you mean?" She asked.

"I did say I was going to jump into the lake," she explained; "so am I doing this now or…?"

"–Wait, you're actually going to do it?" Mikan exclaimed.

Katherine shrugged on her navy blue hoddie and reached for a flash light from her bag. She was trying not to let the horror show on her face, having already made up her mind that this was happening and she wouldn't back out. Fixing Natsume with an even stare she asked again, "So what'll it be?"

Her roommates looked at her in shock as they waited for the strawberry-blonde to answer; except it wasn't Natsume who spoke.

Hiyoki had leaned forward towards Natsume's ear. "I think now would be best, don't you?" There was a glint in her eye that made Katherine a bit nervous. That nervous only increased when Natsume responded with a nod and a smirk.

_'What are those two up to?'_ She wondered.

"I think you're right, Hiyoki," she agreed. "Now would be perfect. The Night Class students are in class and everyone else shouldn't be up for a couple of hours."

If only the girl knew what they were up to. She could've avoided the awkward situation that would consequently occur. But by whatever manor of bad luck she seemed to possess, Katherine couldn't explain why it felt like her stomach bottomed out and she willingly walked down to the lake with the rest of the girls trailing behind her; a naïve lamb being lead to the slaughter.

The night air chilled her skin causing a layer of goosebumps to appear on her arms and legs. It was still only early spring. Which lead her to question why the hell she agreed to do this in the first place? ' _It's because I never thought I was going to lose,'_ she reminded herself as she stripped down to her underwear and bra. She paused when she heard one of the girls let out a wolf-whistle.

_"This is humiliating,"_ she muttered unhooking her bra and kicking off the last shred of her dignity. Looking over her shoulder, she eyed her audience warily. Hiyoki and Natsume were standing at the front, both having the same shit-eating grin on their faces.

A shiver passed through her naked form. It was either from the air or the gleam that was in her friends' eyes, either way she knew that this wasn't going to end well. She brought her hand up to her forehead in a mock salute which the two girls returned before she turned back toward the water and dived in with a splash.

"Hurry, grab her clothes," Natsume said to the other girls as they ran down to the dock and hastily snatched up Katherine's discarded garments leaving only her shoes and hoodie behind. By the time Katherine resurfaced they were already making their escaped and leaving her there freezing her bare ass in the lake.

The girl swam back to the dock and hoisted herself out of the water. She stood there watching them leave and glaring at their backs. "Fine," she huffed, "if that's how they want it to be; then let the games begin." Throwing on the hoodie and slipping her feet into her sneakers, Katherine began to really think about the best way to take both of them down.

Meanwhile Aidou had been in walking back from his cabin after retrieving a set of notes he needed for his class. He had been distracted that evening and forgotten to take them. It wasn't like him. He didn't usually forget things like that, but he knew why he did. It was Katherine…

No, it was really Katherine!

Aidou rubbed his eyes; think that he might be seeing things. He wasn't. She was really there wearing and oversized hoodie that barely brushed her thighs and sneakers. "Kit?"

The girl froze and slowly turned around to face the blond vampire. His eyes traveled up and down her form and the expanse of skin exposed before they fell on her wet hair soaking the front of the hoodie. She looked like a cat after a bath. "What the hell are you wearing?" He said. If he didn't know any better, he'd think that she…

Almost as if she was able to read his thoughts, her face turned a bright shade of red and she waved her hands wildly in the air. "It's not what you think!" She tried to explain, "I wasn't –I mean I didn't. Oh fuck!"

"You didn't fuck?" He repeated questioningly.

"No –wait yes! I mean…" she looked down at the ground, "There is a completely innocent explanation for this."

He gave her a look as if to say: _"Well go on."_ Her eyes drifted up from the ground and she gulped dropping her gaze and tugged self-consciously on the hem of her hoodie. She mumbled something that Aidou couldn't make out. "I didn't catch that, what?"

Katherine inhaled a deep breath of air. "I lost a game of poker," she told him.

Aidou blinked. "Huh?"

"I was playing poker with the girls in my cabin. I had a really good hand and I thought there was no way I could lose. So when girl said that the looser should jump into the lake I agreed. I never thought I'd actually have to do it," she explained.

"That still doesn't explain why you're not wearing any pants," he pointed out.

"They took my clothes…"

The blond vampire fought back a smile. "Oh really?"

"Shut up…"

"–I didn't say anything."

"Well keep it that way," she huffed brushing past him and continuing on her way to the cabin. Aidou watched her go as she muttered obscenities under her breath. He had to admit that he was a little relieved to see her acting so normal. Yesterday had been stressful on everyone, including himself, but it probably wasn't a fraction of the amount of stress that Katherine must've felt. In a way, he was surprised at how well she was coping; humans were usually so fragile.

"Hey wait a minute," he said moving to keep up with her. "I need to ask you something." His long legs easily caught up and matched her quick strides. Katherine shot him an irritated glare, but didn't say anything about him walking beside her.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Conformation on a rumor," he replied, "I wanted to know if there was any truth to it."

The girl looked up at him curious. "What rumor?" She wondered. "I'm sure there's a bunch circulating right now. You're going to have to be a little more specific."

Aidou watched her reaction carefully as he spoke his next words. "Just a little something I heard today about you. According to one of your classmates, yesterday wasn't the first time you've been taken hostage," he brushed off this little tidbit as if they were merely discussing the weather. Katherine didn't respond verbally, but her steps faltered slightly as she stumbled over a dip in the path. "Apparently they had somehow gotten their hand on your school file, and they said that your file contained an interesting piece of information. I asked them what they meant and they told me that you were admitted to a hospital two years ago for a knife wound and according to the police report was the result of a kidnapping. They also said something ridiculous about you being part of some underground sex trade, but even I know that's a little farfetched."

Katherine was clenching her fists in her pockets. She wasn't sure what pissed her off more, the fact that these classmates had the audacity to go through her personal file or that they were blabbing this information to the rest of the student body. It made her stomach do summersaults thinking about what else they could've read and how much they could actually know. "What is it you want to know, Aidou?"

"Is any of the rest of it true? I was thinking about it, and you and I both know that what you did wasn't a normal response," he said rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "So I was wondering how you were able to stay so calm. Maybe you had already experienced something similar?"

The girl let out a long breath of air and turned around to face him. "Why do you want to know so badly? Is this fun for you asking me these questions? You know that I don't want to talk about what happened yesterday. So tell me why. Why are you bringing it up?" She snapped angrily causing Aidou to back up and raise his hands in surrender.

"Look," he said, "I'm sorry, Kit. I didn't mean to upset you, but I think that this is important. It can't be a coincidence that you just happened to be on the bus that was taken hostage. The way the others told it made it seem like you were the person he was after and everyone else was just collateral damage. So what it is? Why did he go after you?"

"–So what's your theory? That these people who kidnapped me the first time are coming after me again? Do you realize how insane that sounds?" She said.

"Is it really so impossible?"

"Yes…"

"–Why?" He pressed.

Katherine was out right glaring at him by this point. She was fighting with herself about how to answer his question. The truth was something that she didn't want to get into, but there was no lie she could say that Aidou would remotely buy. That incident two years ago was something she made an effort not to dwell on. Partly because she didn't like remembering the fear or the physical pain that came with it and partly because whenever it came up she was reminded of the fact that Lucian had killed numerous people that day. She shook her head.

Aidou sighed. "Kit, please," he breathed, "I'm trying to help you." She looked up at him then her expression softening. The anger gradually leaked out of her leaving her tired and visibly deflated. Then she whispered under her breath, so softly that he almost missed what it was.

"They're dead."

The blond vampire froze and opened his mouth to respond, but thought better of it and closed it again. When Katherine realized he wasn't going to speak she described further. "That day I was drenched in blood. It was so bad that the nurses in the emergency room thought I had half my face clawed off. The majority of it wasn't mine though. My injury was actually very minor. Luke had wrapped my leg and cut off the majority of the blood flow so my leg was hardly bleeding. He carried me all the way to the highway on his back where we were able to flag down a car and get a ride to the hospital."

Aidou had a feeling where this was going, but he needed to hear her say it. "Whose blood was it?"

"Theirs," she exhaled. "He told me not to look, to shut my eyes and not to open them until he said to, and I didn't. I kept my eyes closed, but I still heard them –screaming…" The girl let out a shudder, either a result of the sudden gust of wind or her memories, and wrapped her arms around herself. "That's why it's crazy," she reasoned. "I can't be afraid of people who are dead."

"Kit…" He trailed off not knowing what to say. To think that she experienced something like that…what could he say? Aidou couldn't sympathize as he had never found himself in that situation and he couldn't tell her that everything was going to be alright because he wasn't so sure of that himself. It brought to mind a whole other set of questions, however, because Lucian, her funny easygoing Uncle Luke, had slaughter a fairly large group of people. _'That definitely isn't normal,'_ he frowned.

Katherine let out a tired sigh. "I don't like arguing with you," she confessed, "and I understand that you're only trying to help, but honestly there isn't anything you can do. The past is the past and there's nothing anyone can do to change that. What happened two years ago… what happened yesterday, none of it can be changed. So there's no point in worrying about it, Hanabusa."

"I get that, but –wait did you just call me by my first name?" He asked a little surprised.

She looked at him demurely. "Is that a problem?"

He felt the tension around them lift and smiled at little. "No," he assured her shake his head, "it's fine. That's was the first time I've ever heard you say it though." It was hard to ignore how his stomach had flipped-flopped when she said it and the slight warmth he felt on his face. The reaction confused him a little. He wasn't one who usually reacted to people saying his name; after all it was only a name, but something in the way that she said it had him blushing, not a deep blush mind you, but blushing all the same.

_'It has to be her voice,'_ he decided; _'Kit has always had a soothing voice.'_ Funny how he was only realizing that now, he would've thought something like that would've crossed him mind before; apparently not.

"Well no offense, but it doesn't exactly roll off the tongue," she remarked as she began walking again. Aidou tucked his notebook under his arm as he walked beside her, still deep in thought. The girl sighed glancing at him out of her peripheral vision, "If you keep making that face you're going to get stuck like that."

The blond vampire looked at her briefly, but his expression didn't change. "I know you don't want to talk about it anymore, but I need to ask you one more question," he said causing Katherine to raise a brow suspiciously. "What does your Uncle do again?"

She released the air she had been holding. "He's a freelance journalist," she mumbled. Aidou hummed absently to himself as he considered that piece of information. The two students had stopped walking now as Katherine had reached her cabin. "Well this is it," she said gesturing to the wooden structure.

"Yeah?" He sighed looking at her face again, "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Aidou was just about to turn and continue on his way when Katherine called out to him.

"Hey, wait up a sec. I actually have something to ask you as well…"

"–What is it?"

"A favor of sorts," she explained, "I figure you owe me one for this…"

* * *

The next day was warm and clear, with no visible clouds in the sky. The sun shone down brightly reflecting off the lake causing it to glimmer. Natsume and Hiyoki were walking back to their cabin after swimming, their hair still dripping with water. They were going to grab a change of clothes and take showers before dinner with the Night class. "I hope we'll be able to sit with Idol-sempai," Hiyoki sighed. "Last night he sat with Carilena Barros and her co-whores, heaven knows why, that girl's a menace."

Natsume gave a brief huff of agreement as they walked. It was common knowledge that the Portuguese exchange student was more or less a raging bitch. It hardly mattered to most people; however because her father was the governor of Rio de Janeiro. She always got what she wanted and never cared who she stepped on to get it. Natsume particularly didn't like her because she had recently set her sights on Ichijou-sempai, even though she already had dozens of boys flocking to her.

"Whoa! No, freaking way," Hiyoki almost yelled as she came to a screeching halt. Natsume had been walking a little behind her crashed into the smaller girl's back at the unexpected stop. The strawberry-blonde glanced at her friend in confusion before following her line of sight; her jaw dropping at the sight.

Ahead of them was their cabin. At first glance everything was normal, but taking a second look it was obvious not the way they left it. The girls' eyes scanned over the roof of the building and the bunkbeds perched atop it. All six of the beds were lined up perfectly the girls' bags still on top of them where they were that morning. Nothing appeared to be moved, Hiyoki's robe was still hanging from one of the beds and Natsume's towel thrown carelessly on her top bunk.

"How the hell…"

A few hours earlier Aidou was bent over trying to catch his breath. The blond vampire shaded his eyes from the afternoon sun trying not to show how annoyed he really was at getting up so early. He watched as Katherine dragged one of the mattresses across the roof. "You know when you said you needed help with something, I didn't think you meant this," he said.

Katherine struggled with a mattress pushing it onto one of the top bunks. "True, but you still agreed. I couldn't lift all this by myself. Ow… Aidou help me out here," she called over her shoulder. The mattress in question was beginning to slip out of her grasp.

He sighed tiredly; nevertheless he helped the girl wrestle the sleeping pad onto the wooden frame. "This is insane. Why are you doing this again? What if you get caught?"

"I won't," she told him confidently.

"Because…"

"It's a physical impossibility. There's no way I could lift all these bed on the roof by myself," she explained.

"You're not by yourself," he pointed out.

She stopped what she was doing and smiled a devilish smile. "They don't know that."

Jumping back to Natsume and Hiyoki, both girls were left in a shocked stupor. It didn't take long for word to spread about the bed on the roof of cabin 223. When the teachers arrived to see all the commotion, the Headmaster and Mrs. Hoshino were left scratching their heads. The older woman had seen many things in her time running the camp. Pranks have come and gone, but she had never seen this…

Of course Natsume and Hiyoki were escorted to the Headmasters cabin. There they were questioned extensively about what happened, but neither of them said a word. And when they were allowed finally to go to dinner, they both sat across from Katherine and watched as she effortlessly talked with some of the Night Class students acting as if she hadn't put their beds on top of the roof.

But both of them knew better.

Katherine wasn't as innocent as she looked and they had no idea how she did. They only knew that she did. Now all that was left was to figure out how to get their revenge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And done! Woo, I felt like I was cutting that one kind of close. Sorry I haven't update in a while, but I did promise myself that I would get this chapter out before October and I've done it! The reason for my absence is kind of a long one. My life has been pretty hectic since I last updated, moving, graduation, family drama, and whatever else. I also recently got a job, so the only real time I have to write is on the weekends. Anyways, by the time most of you read this I'm going to be road-tripping, I'm like right down to the wire and I'm doing my touchdown dance because I was able to get this out before I left.
> 
> I'd like to thank all of you who have continued to support this story. I know that you're all amazing and probably deserve a much more consistent author. (sorry.) You know the drill, leave your thoughts, opinions and suggestions in the comments and hit that subscription and Kudos button. I'll see ya guys next update!


	14. Indiana Jones Caused the Holocaust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: This is a fanfiction. As a parody any resemblance to any other previous published literature (i.e. books, song lyrics, poems, ect.) or any broadcast-ed media (i.e. movies, television shows, skits, plays, ect.) is purely coincidental. This is by no means me trying to pass of other peoples work as my own and as such this is completely nonprofit. I don't get paid to write and I am not using these stories as a means of collecting money.
> 
> Inspiration for this chapter is credited to AfterHours's web-series. More specifically 'Why Indiana Jones Secretly Sucks at His Job'.

**I Don't Date Vampires**   
**Chapter 12**   
**_"Indiana Jones Caused the Holocaust"_**

* * *

As a child, Katherine naturally protested when it was time for her to go to bed. She would argue that she wasn't tired, yet had been dragging her feet all day. Her parents just shook their heads at this behavior and tucked the little girl into bed anyways ignoring all her complaints. What they weren't aware of was that Katherine had actually been telling the truth.

She wasn't tired. In fact she was never really tired once the sun went down. It was like a switch flicking on and she was all the sudden filled with an unexplainable sense of exhilaration. More often than not she was far too hyper to sleep and many nights were spent with a book and a flashlight under the covers. She hated it. So to cope, Katherine started doing everything possible to tire herself out during the day. Sometimes it worked. And sometimes it didn't.

On the nights that it didn't work, Katherine took to popping sleeping pills; a bad habit and one that she definitely didn't want to indulge in too often. Nevertheless, it worked and the dreamless sleep that proceeded it was bliss. And after the incident on Monday, not that being a hostage and killing a kidnapper could be referred as something so trivial; Katherine needed that dreamless sleep to escape from the nightmares.

She slept so soundly and peacefully that she didn't hear the quiet footsteps moving about the cabin or feel the slight shift in her mattress when someone leaned over her prone body. The hushed whispers were lost on all the girls' ears and no one noticed the two visitors slink out the same way they came in.

Katherine groaned burying further under the covers. She really hated mornings. The sun was shining brighter than usual today casting a glare through the windows. She cracked one eye open groggily looking around the cabin.

_'What the hell?'_ She thought both eyes popping open and shot up on the bottom bunk. The girl turned her head every which way taking in the colossal mess. The cabin was in ruins. It looked like the aftermath of a crazy kegger. A mess of red string ran about the length of the room twisting over and under and around the beds. There was something that appeared to be some type of lunch meat stuck to the ceiling and a sickly sweet syrupy smell burning her nose. The other girls were still asleep, but looking over she saw that Mikan was decked out in a bikini made out of shaving cream and Sakura's light brown hair was dyed green and styled into a Mohawk.

Seeing that, Katherine quickly patted herself down. Her hair was still the same golden brown and she wasn't covered in anything sticky. She wondered briefly why she was left alone, but didn't dwell on it for long and climbed off the bed. It turned out to be a mistake as her foot squished into something sticky. A sound of disgust made its way from the back of throat and she lifted her foot to examine the trail of thick syrupy goo on the floor next to her bed.

"Gross," she moaned running her fingers through her tangled hair. She realized she must've spoken a little too loudly when Sakura sat up rubbing her eyes.

"Wha- _Yawn-_ what's going on? Why so noisy?" She mumbled tiredly. Her eyes blinked open languidly still dulled with sleep and looked at the girl who had woken her up.

Katherine paused taking in the other girl's green Mohawk with wide eyes. She glanced back down at the floor then back up again. Sakura followed her line of sight, her own eyes trailing around the rest of the room as her jaw dropped open in shock. "What the fuck?" She yelled climbing out of her bed as well and untangling herself from a jumble of red string. The girl caught her reflection in the mirror hanging on the other side of the room and let out a string of cruses. "What the fuck happened to my hair? Why the fuck is it green? Who are the cocksuckers that did this...?"

"–Shhh! Sakura-san calm down," Katherine whispered maneuvering her way through the goo and under some of the string. She should have really looked to make sure there weren't any booby-traps. If she had, the girl would have had a chance at avoiding an assault of paint filled water balloons.

The first balloon flew at her with pinpoint accuracy. Katherine jumped out of the way with a surprised yelp and her feet slid against the floor. The good news was she just narrowly avoided the first balloon, however the bad news was her traction was less than stellar and she slipped falling to the floor with flailing limbs. There was barely enough time to close her eyes and cover her mouth and nose before she was pelted with about twenty-something other balloons.

She laid there for a few seconds stunned. Then she wiped the excess paint from her eye lids and sat up. Sakura was standing in a shock stupor; her mouth hanging wide open. "I can't believe that just happened," she said barely concealing her laughter.

Katherine huffed and stood up this time being more careful of the little red tripwires. She smeared her paint covered fingers on her shirt; a useless cause considering that the front of her was now plastered with different blotches of colored paint and her back was sticky with the mystery goo. "It's not funny," she replied.

"Yes it was," Sakura giggled. "You should see yourself. You look ridiculous!"

"So do you," she retorted.

"–Ugh! Why are you two being so loud?" Mikan snipped sitting up and glaring at the two girls that woke her up. Her shaving cream bikini top dripped on her bed sheets. Both of the other girl regarded her a moment before bursting out in fits of laughter. "What's so funny?" She asked before following her line of sight to her chest. "What the…"

"Eww… what the hell is it!" Another girl screeched just waking up and finding herself coated in some sort of slimy goop. The resulting scream woke up everyone else and chaos broke out in the cabin. Questions were being fired over one another, each person trying to figure out who snuck in the cabin and why. Then one of the girls slipped and her hand grabbed at some of the red string. A sack of flour ripped open and spilled over the two girls that were unlucky enough to be standing underneath it.

None of them noticed the audience they had watching through one of the windows. They were far too caught up to bother looking or to hear the snickering of the two girls standing outside. Natsume and Hiyoki both tried, rather unsuccessfully, to subdue their amusement. The plan was going better than either of them expected. "Hahaha. This is hilarious," Natsume snorted.

"–hehehe. I know we should've brought a camera," Hiyoki added giggling.

"Ohiyou-goziamasu, girls!"

The two glanced behind them and smiled. "Ohiyou, Mrs. Hoshino and Ms. Dorm-supervisor," they responded cheerfully then turning the attention back to the window. The small old woman and the younger girls' dorm supervisor nodded and past by them. ' _Wait…Oh shit!'_

"Okay so next is cabin 73," Mrs. Hoshino read off her clipboard. They were conducting their last round of cabin inspections on the trip. So far cabin 73 had been very clean and neither thought there was anything they needed to worry about. However when they moved to approach the cabin the two girls, Natsume Abe and Hiyoki Kimura, came running around the side of the building and intercepted them at the door.

"Gomen," the burnet huffed, "but you really shouldn't go in there."

"Yeah one of the girls got sick. It's a mess," Natsume explained; her eyes flickered upwards to the partly tilted white bucket hanging above them. It contained a mixture of vegetable oil and acrylic paint. Knowing that if the door was opened it would spill all over the camp owner and dorm supervisor, they were determined to prevent that.

"If one of the girls is sick then we have to go in," the younger woman reasoned. "So please step aside, Abe-san, Kimura-san." She moved pull on the door handle, but both girls pressed against it keeping it closed.

"Chotte-matte kudasai…"

"–Actually we're all quite fine in here," Katherine called out. Her voice traveled through the screen door and up Hiyoki's and Natsume's spines. There was a certain chill about it that only they could detect. "But if you insist come in and see for yourselves, Madame."

Mrs. Hoshino adjusted her bulky frames and stared evenly up at the two girls blocking her way. She radiated authority when she ordered them to step out of the way. Neither could oppose the order, the woman was far to intimidating, so with defeated sigh they stepped out of the way and let them open the door.

No one could've predicted what happened next…

The bucket tipped dousing the two women in the mixture. The girls' dorm-supervisor let out a startled scream and knocked into a surprised Mrs. Hoshino. The resulting force propelled both the women forward, the oil only increasing their velocity, and they slid down the middle of the cabin and crashed into the opposite wall. They fell to the floor with a thud landing in the mystery goo. The younger woman made an attempt to get up and help up Mrs. Hoshino as well, but the goo mixed with the oil made it fairly impossible. They both reached out for something to help stabilize them.

"–No! Don't grab that string," Hiyoki shouted. The warning came too late as both Mrs. Hoshino and the dorm-supervisor landed on the floor again taking a hand full of red string along with them. There was a loud pop from two paper confetti cannons and a click as the ceiling fan turned on releasing a couple pillows worth of feathers. The soft quills glided down a fake imitation of snow. Along with the confetti, they coated everyone in a layer of color paper and white feathers; especially those who were covered with the mystery goo.

Katherine brushed one of the feathers from her face. Behind her Hiyoki had face palmed, while Natsume tried to make light of the situation. "See, I told you it was a mess in here…"

"–All of you go to the Headmaster's cabin, NOW!"

* * *

Kaien Cross sat at his makeshift desk with his fingers steepled in front of his mouth. His usual exuberance was cloaked with an air of somberness as he leveled gazed flitted between each person standing in front of him. He almost couldn't believe the events that had been relayed to him and if it wasn't for the state of everyone else he wouldn't have.

Ten day class girls shuffled their feet nervously casting sidelong glances at each other. Behind them Mrs. Hoshino and the dorm-supervisor, Ms. Shirasu, had equal looks of disapproval and indignation. All of them were dusted in a layer of paper confetti and feathers, however some, like Katherine, Mrs. Hoshino, and Ms. Shirasu were also drenched in splotches of colored paint and coated in a sticky gook that he deduced to be either maple syrup or molasses. It appeared that they got the worst of it, albeit having your hair dyed green and gelled into a Mohawk was a pretty close second. The man's eyes fell on the three girls at the center, Ms. Abe, Ms. Kimura, and Ms. Katherine, and then sighed. "Ms. Taylor, why is it when something happens, you are always somehow involved?" He questioned not expecting an answer.

"Believe me Headmaster, I've been asking myself that same question," she replied wryly.

He removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Now, I don't care who started this or who retaliated," he told them plainly. "All of you are at fault. Not only have you broken the rules, but you've caused massive amounts of property damage that the school will have to pay for. You should all be expelled…"

All of the girls winced.

"-however considering this is the first time anything like this has happen, I've decided to be lenient. None of you will be expelled, but don't think you're getting off that easy. Each of you will clean that cabin until it sparkles, if you manage to get done before 2:30 I'll allow you to go on the hike, and when we arrive back at the school you'll all be suspended for two weeks followed by a two week detention. Another incident like this will not happen again nor be tolerated. Am I understood?" He said the last part with such austerity that it almost sounded like a threat to their lives.

"Y-yes, sir!" They stuttered in agreement.

The man sat back in his chair the cheerful smile returning to his face. "Very good! Now run along, girls, and you should hose yourselves off first before you get started," he advised waving his hand absently in the direction of the door.

They didn't need any more encouragement as each of them quickly made their escape should the man change his mind and actually expel them or worse prevent them from sleeping in tents with the Night class. Though Katherine was the only one truly worried about the expulsion.

After a quick hose down and helping Sakura wash the temporary dye out of her hair the girls set to work on the cabin. The camp workers supplied them with mops, buckets, sponges, and disinfectants. They was a lot of arguing between them, mostly Natsume and Hiyoki against the rest of the girls, but Katherine managed to get everyone on track by reminding them if they didn't get the place cleaned up by the time the Day class and Night class were paired off into groups then they would have to stay back _together._ The threat of being stuck together was motivation enough.

By some miracle, they actually finished on time with only ten minutes to spare. Changing into more suitable clothes, they managed to make it to the dining hall just as lunch was finishing. Katherine not having the patience to deal with anymore of Natsume's and Hiyoki's antics threw a 'See ya guys later' over her shoulder and walked over to where Yori and Yuuki sat.

"Konichiwa," she greeted pulling out a chair and plopping down across from them.

The two girls looked up smiled warmly at the other girl. "Hey Kat," Yuuki said happily around a bite of apple. "Where have you been? We didn't see you at breakfast."

"Yes, you were missing all morning as well." Yori added thoughtfully.

Katherine in the process of stuffing a diner roll in her mouth whilst pouring a cup of coffee smiled sheepishly. "I was cleaning. Had interesting wakeup call this morning," she shot a look over to Natsume and Hiyoki. "Kind of got suspended…"

Yuuki coughed after sucking in a surprised breath, little bits of apple sputtering out of her mouth. Yori patted her back and Katherine nudged the girl's glass of juice toward her. Across the room Kaname tensed slightly observing them. "You alright, Yuuki-chan?" Yori asked.

"Uh… yeah, I'm fine," she said after taking a sip of juice, "wrong pipe. What do you mean you got suspended? What did you do?"

"–It's more of what I didn't do…"

"–you mean the beds," Yori guessed.

"No, my cabin was booby-trapped this morning… and what makes you think I had anything to do with the beds?" She asked taking a sip from her Styrofoam cup.

"Because we know you," Yuuki quipped.

"And you're also not denying it," the blank-faced girl drawled.

Katherine smirked into her cup. Those two really knew her that well. She was impressed. "Anyways…" she laughed changing the subject, "long story short, there was a huge mess –think hangover movie, something that you, Yuuki, should never watch. It'll steal your innocence –I ruined my Rolling Stones tee-shirt, and ten of us are suspended for two weeks then we have detention for two weeks."

The two shared equal looks of confusion while Katherine continued to eat as much as she could in the last three minutes of lunch. Yori shrugged her slender shoulders, "I don't think I want to know." Yuuki nodded in agreement and they let the subject drop deciding whatever Katherine did or didn't do would make them accomplices if she were to explain further. So making the smart decision they let the girl eat in peace, while chatting idly to each other.

* * *

_CHIRP. CHIRP. TWEET. TWEET._

* * *

It felt good to stretch her legs. After a morning of scrubbing floors, a long hike was just what Katherine needed to loosen her joints. She took a deep breath inhaling the faint scent of pine.

It was a beautiful day. White fluffy clouds dotted the sky in the distance as the sun filtered through the tall Red and Black Pines casting little beams of light onto the hiking trail. It was neither too hot nor too cold and the trees helped shade the group from the bright sun; a plus for the Night Class students.

It was relaxing walking in silence and listening to the quiet sounds of nature around them. Katherine found herself falling into a Zen state. A happy little tune playing in her head as the stress that had plagued her since Monday began to fade away. She didn't mind the fact that they had been walking for about eight kilometers or the weight of her pack or the lack of proper hiking boots that were starting to make her pinky toes go numb. She didn't even mind the company; however she never would've guessed she would be running into her old childhood bully.

Her head turned as she glanced over her shoulder at the person lagging behind the group. Carilena Barros wasn't much of an outdoorsy person –no, that's an understatement, she detested the outdoors. She had been complaining under her breath since the hike started, of course the she was muttering in Portuguese so only Katherine understood exactly what she was saying.

Everyone else was further up the trail leaving Katherine and Carilena at the back. She could've gone on to join Natsume and Hiyoki, who had coincidentally been put into their group as well, no one would have stopped her; but for some reason she found herself staying close to her old classmate. Maybe she was trying to make up for their past quarrels thinking that they could move on from the first grade and be… well not friends, that was too familiar and implied that they actually liked each other which they did not.

_'Acquaintances, that implies civility which there isn't any, and colleagues are more about comradery… I could say classmates, but we aren't in the same class. Maybe two people who happen to go to the same school?'_ Katherine shifted the weight on her back. There was really no word to describe the two of them.

"Are you alright? Do you need to take a break?" She suggested once they had finished trekking up a fairly steep incline. Katherine was barely winded, but the other girl was hunched over gasping like a fish out of water; long tendrils of her glossy black hair fell over her face them creating a veil between them. She took a step toward her unscrewing the cap from a plastic water bottle and holding it out to her. "Here…"

Carilena's head snapped up some of the bouncy curls hitting brushing briefly across her face. She eyed the water bottle with obvious mistrust as if it contained poison and not clear spring water. "I'm not drinking anything you give me, aberração _!"_ She spat bluntly.

Katherine sighed and brought the water bottle up to her lips. She had really hoped to move past this animosity, but Carilena seemed determined to contradict her attempts. If there was one thing she remembered about her was her ability to hold a grudge. Not that she blamed her for it, no; Katherine had long since stopped blaming the girl for hating her. Honestly, it was both their faults.

Back then Katherine had been angry, confused and heartbroken by her parents' disappearance. She went through periods where she got into fist fights about three times a week and while Carilena's snobby attitude never helped the situation, she knew that she used the other girl to vent her frustrations on more than one occasion. Still sometimes Carilena would go out of way to antagonize her when she had done nothing to her; in fact it was almost always that way. After all it had been her to start the fighting to begin with.

_"Hey, I heard your parents are gone? Where'd they go? Are they dead or did they just not want you?"_

Those words replayed in her mind dragging up old emotions she hoped to stay buried. It was two of her biggest fears combined. She didn't know what was worse. On one hand if they were dead than that would officially make her an orphan and, on the other hand, if they weren't that would imply that they did abandon her.

Sometimes she liked to think that they were living a happy life somewhere else. She would imagine them sitting down to dinner laughing with other children, little brothers and sisters that she would never meet, just like they used to. The mental image would immediately make her bitter and she then hoped that they were dead because nothing was worse than the idea that she was unwanted.

A small frowned tugged at the corners of her lips. She really hated thinking that way. Even if she was unwanted, they were her parents and she would never wish them dead; not really.

"Are you ready to keep moving now?" Katherine questioned after slipping the water bottle back into her pack. Carilena's breathing had returned somewhat to normal, but she still was huffing like she was jogging. "Ichijou-sempai will worry if we hang back any longer…"

At those words Carilena suddenly perked up an almost dopey look appearing on her face. She fixed her hair and wiped some of the sweat from her neck. Katherine struggled not to roll her eyes at the bubbly persona that obscured the other girl's horrid personality. She almost did scoff when Carilena fixed her with a withering glare.

"Just stay away from me, aberração. And don't even think about going near Ichijou-sempai," she said as menacing as she could, " **he's mine**."

This time Katherine did scoff. Did she really think she scared her? This wasn't first grade anymore, but Katherine seemed to be the only one that realized that. Instead of dignifying that was a response she shrugged her shoulders. "Mmh. Sure whatever you say," she chuckled amused before Carilena roughly shoved passed her.

She held back a little and watched the girl continue on the trail. The burnet shifted the weight of her pack; a curse passing through her lips as she complained again about its weight as if she were lugging around a bunch of rocks. Funny thing was Natsume and Hiyoki had been sneaking the stones into her bag for the past couple of hours. Telling her would have been the good thing to do, however Katherine decided that she couldn't be bothered with ethics.

"The smallest bitches always bark the loudest," she considered finally picking up her pace and catching up to the others.

* * *

"–yeah barely… I mean he's an archeology professor who gets time off whenever he wants and has actual groopies and can't be killed. So I guess he's like magic," Katherine remarked in between taking bites of her trout.

The twelve of them sat huddled around a campfire enjoying the fish that they had caught, well Carilena wasn't actually eating hers instead just poking at it with her fork as if it would leap up and bite her. A warm heat chased away any of the chill in the night air as they huddled closer to the flames conversing freely with each other. Sometime during the conversation Natsume had shifted the topic to Indiana Jones claiming that the man was terrible at his job, something that Hiyoki fervently rebutted.

"Yes!" The strawberry blonde exclaimed brandishing her fork towards Katherine, "And that checks out because magic is real in the Indy Universe. Remember in _Temple of Doom_ , that priest clearly has supernatural powers; which implies that removing and feasting on the hearts of you enemies to get super strength is a thing. A thing that you can do in this horrible world…"

Ruka paused in the process of lifting her fork to her mouth. "Can we not talk about feasting on hearts while we're eating, please," she sighed. The vampire brushed a strand of her long golden hair behind her ear a look of distaste on her face. Beside her Ichijou chuckled at her reaction listening intently to the spiraling debate.

"–So, what? Who cares if there's magic," Hiyoki argued.

"So what is Indy's whole justification for why he thinks it's okay to steal ancient artifacts?" Natsume shot back; undeterred by Ruka's comment.

"–like he needs a reason…"

"It's because he's a better caretaker," Katherine answered, "as a teacher he can be trusted to share this information with the world. His unofficial motto is: _'This belongs in a museum!'_ And yet none of the artifact he recovers actually ends up in museums. Nine times out of ten he only succeeds in directing a bunch of evil guys right to them."

"Yeah!" one of the Day class guys agreed, "You'd think there would be a lot of demand for a diary autographed by Adolf Hitler and he smashes up that library floor… _Kind of an anti-learning vibe."_

"But he's saving the world," she pouted.

Natsume nodded in agreement with that last statement, "Sure, but after he saves the world he keeps that information to himself. Otherwise we would see a bunch of sweeping social changes from one movie to the next, right? So this teacher, notice the air quotes, encounters magic stones, magic human sacrifices, and a magic fridge of invincibility and he doesn't share a word of that to anyone. You'd think that he could take a break from adventuring and publish an academic journal or two."

"What about God?" Ichijou chimed in.

Natsume stopped and glanced over the blond vampire a light blush dusting her cheeks. "That's kind of a broader subject, Ichijou-sempai…"

The other boy chuckled lightly shaking his head. "No, I mean Indiana Jones witnesses the Ark of the Covenant melt the faces of an entire platoon of Nazi soldiers and he meets an immortal knight guarding the Holy Grail and he says nothing. You'd think that if he was that serious about teaching and sharing his revelations with the world, he'd be an entirely different kind of teacher," he said.

"Isn't Indiana Jones an atheist though?"

"Which makes it insane," Katherine laughed, "because he discovers the afterlife and magic and chooses not to share the information with anyone. He even fights with his Dad because he disagrees with his religion which is the same religion that saves his ass from Nazi execution. Natsume's right, Indy's a hypocrite."

"–Woo! Score one for me!" Natsume cheered eliciting a few chuckles from the other students. Beside her Hiyoki rolled her eyes stabbing into her fish with a little more force than necessary. She was fighting a losing argument.

"And remember that this all takes place during World War II," Katherine added as an afterthought. "You would think that confirming God's existence, thus proving that eternal rewards and punishments exist, would deter some Nazis, right? Comforted some victims? Hell, he could've avoided the whole Holocaust if went out publicly and said, ' _Hey, there is a God. He is a vengeful god. Don't believe me? Here's a jar of Nazi face…'_ "

"–Even better he could've just strapped the Ark of the Convenient on top of a tank and drove it straight into Berlin…"

"–And that there's difference between a Ravenclaw and a Slytherin," another Day class guy remarked jokingly.

To be honest, only Ichijou was following the conversation. The other Night class students were thoroughly confused having only heard of, or in Ruka's case not heard of, the movie franchise. Still the conversation did spark something in the blonde girl and she recited a quote without even realizing it. "The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing," she whispered.

Despite how quietly the words were spoken, the strawberry-blonde caught them and sat up pointing her fork the other girl. "Yes, that's exactly it, Souen-sempai!" She nodded in agreement. "Who said that, Katherine?"

"Edmund Burke."

"Thank you," she said before turning to Hiyoki building up to her final point, "See Hiyoki, Edmund Burke said the Indiana Jones caused the Holocaust."

The smaller burnet stared perplexed at her friend. "That wasn't even close to your original point... and besides maybe Indy's afraid of what would happen when the afterlife becomes a verified fact. Would the world economy collapse or would people give up on life and move to Monasteries? He doesn't know. I mean what would people do when they find out that real God is the kind of god that would leave a box of face-melt just lying around?"

"You didn't let me finish," she countered. "This whole thing can be summed up in only five words; _Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey_. In that movie, Bill and Ted discover magic, hell, mug their way into heaven, talk to God, and then travel through time to team up with aliens. Then what do they do? They blast it out live to a kick-ass guitar solo. They were honest with people, instead of picking and choosing what the public got to know and it led to a utopic future."

"Okay, but what does Bill and Ted have to do with Indiana Jones?" Katherine asked.

"No I get it," a Night class student, Noevna Vygotsky, started. Up until now she had been silently observing the others in the group, but her bright green eyes flitted over to the golden brown girl on more than one occasion. "It's a controlled experiment because you got different subjects, but the same stimuli; massive revelations, specifically magic and the introduction of God and the afterlife. The only difference is in how they respond to it. On one hand there's – _Bill and Ted?"_ She looked at Natsume to make sure she was getting the names right, "who's dealing with it in candor and then Indiana with totally secrecy."

It was an interesting thought. And unbeknownst to the Day Class students, it hit home for the vampires in the group. Essentially, wasn't that what they were doing –hiding their existence from the world?

"Natsume, did you just make an argument for transparency and freedom of information?"

The strawberry-blonde scoffed. "No, I made an argument for mythical chosen ones who defy space and time and rock forever because they beat Death in _twister_. However judging by the point that Vygotsky-sempai just made, I assume that she agrees with me so that makes the count Seven to One," she said counting off the classmates that had chimed in for her side of the debate before turning to Hiyoki. "Ready to admit defeat?"

The burnet puffed out her cheeks childishly. "Okay fine," she caved. "I guess at the end of the day I don't really care whether or not a fictional character is good at his job."

Conversations like this had become something habitual between Katherine and her two friends. They've debated everything from _James Bond_ to _Animaniacs_ , albeit this is the first time they had drawn such an active audience. It was fun, relaxing actually after everything that had happened that week; just sitting back and enjoying each other's company was the best part about this disastrous camping trip.

Katherine grudgingly admitted that the Headmaster's idea wasn't all that bad. It did bring the two groups closer together. Some of the Day class even got over being star-struck and were able to actually have a normal conversation with the Night class. And she knew that she made friends with people she would've never considered approaching. All in all, if she could do the week over she wouldn't change anything that happened –well except maybe getting pistol-whipped because that hurt like a motherfu…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here it is the final installment of the camping trip arch! Finally! I'm so relieved to be done with it, I've been working on this arch for more than six or so months... possibly a year and to perfectly blunt I was getting mighty sick of it. Originally there was supposed to be more to it, but I cut a lot of it out because 1) I'm lazy and 2) I really just wanted to move on with the plot. It probably shows as the ending might be a little choppy on this chapter... I don't really care enough to change it, though.
> 
> Japanese Translation:  
> Chotte-matte kudasai - Please wait a moment.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading the prologue of IDDV. If you're wondering about where in the grand scheme of things this story takes place it is kind of during the manga. Except for the prologue and Chapter one they take place a day or two before chapter one of the manga. 
> 
> Katherine arrives at the school in January though and for my purposes the Cross academy school year will be like the typical american school except for the holidays, like labor day and what not.
> 
> If there is anything you think that I could change, or do better at. Leave a comment. I enjoy constructive criticism.


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